
Class P// ^i 



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A COLONIAL GOVERNOR 
IN MARYLAND 



A COLONIAL GOVERNOR 
IN MARYLAND 

HORATIO SHARPE AND HIS TIMES 
1753-1773 

BY 

LADY EDGAR 

AUTHOR OF ' TEN YEARS OF UPPER CANADA ' 

AND ' LIFE OF GENERAL BROCK ' 

{Makers of Canada Series) 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 

NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 

1912 



^5 



(t^ 



N 



' He lived just on the verge of that old world from which we are 
drifting away so swiftly. 

' He was familiar with many varieties of men and fortune. 

' His lot brought him into contact with personages of whom we 
read only in books, whose voices I almost fancy I hear as I read 
the yeUow pages written scores of years since. 

' To the best of my ability I have endeavoured to revivify the 
bygone times and people. With what success the task has been 
accomplished, with what profit or amusement to himself, the kind 
reader will please to determine.' — The Firginians. 



PREFACE 

In August 1753, Colonel Horatio Sharpe, late of His Majesty's 
20tli Regiment, crossed the Atlantic to take the governor- 
ship of the province of Maryland under the sixth and last 
Lord Baltimore. Accompanied by his young secretary, 
John Ridout, he arrived at Annapolis, the capital of Mary- 
land, just before the breaking out of the final war with the 
French in America. He reigned as governor for sixteen 
years, and remained in the province until 1773. That 
period covered some of the most eventful days in colonial 
history. 

Although Horatio Sharpe may be considered a character 
of minor importance in that great drama which was being 
played on the American Continent, yet his career is distinctly 
interesting, not only from his personal character, but also 
by reason of the points of contact between his life and the 
lives of his great contemporaries. He was eminently a 
man of his time, and a study of his career serves to illumine 
a most fascinating period. 

The materials for this sketch have been taken from the 
Sharpe correspondence, from contemporary newspapers, 
and from private sources. If letters have been largely 
drawn upon, it is because, as Cardinal Newman says, ' Not 
only for the interest of a biography, but for the arriving 
at the inside of things, the publication of letters is the true 
method.' 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

Annapolis and Horatio Sharpe 

l-AQE 

Arrival of Horatio Sharpe — His proclamation as Governor — Anna- 
polis in 1753 — Its English characteristics — Schools — Race- 
course — Theatre — Ballroom — Manners — The Council — Its 
members — Description of Governor's entertainments . . 1 

CHAPTER II 

Annapolis and Fort Necessity 

Government House, Annapolis — The Ohio Company — French aggres- 
sion — Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia — Difficulties with as- 
semblies — Confederation of colonies — Congress at Albany — 
Benjamin Franklin's proposal — Fort at junction of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela — George Washington in command — 
Coulon de Jumonville — Fort Necessity — Capitulation — George 
Washington blamed . . . . . .11 

CHAPTER III 

Braddock's Arrival 

Sharpe's commission — Colonel Fitzhugh — Letter to the Secretary 
of State — Sharpe's plans — Washington resigns commission — A 
question of rank — Tour of inspection — Sharpe superseded in 
command — General Braddock — Letter from Sir Thomas Robin- 
son — Troops raised in Maryland — Military expenses — Sharpe 
proposes a stamp duty — Conciliation of Indians — Wampum 
belts — Arrival of Sir John St. Clair — Joins Sharpe at Wills' 
Creek — Down the Potowmac in a canoe — Arrival of Braddock 
— Chain of French forts — English forts — Meeting of governors . 23 



X A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

CHAPTER IV 

Braddock's Defeat 

PAGE 

Question of taxation — General Braddock's indignation — Horatio 
Sharpe's diflSculties — A troublesome assembly — The Upper 
House — Braddock's plans — Expedition to Fort Duquesne — 
George Washington — Benjamin Franklin — "Warning from 
Bradstreet — Letter from Calvert — News from Braddock — 
News from England — The French fleet — State of province — 
Indian depredations — News from the front — First tidings of 
disaster — Naval successes — Letter from Innes — Letter from 
Lieutenant Orme— Braddock's death— The Governor goes to 
Fort Cumberland — Panic of troops— Sharpe's account — Colonel 
Dunbar — Militia called out ..... 42 

CHAPTER V 

Shirley, Oommandter-in-Chief, 1755 

Governor Shirley — Story of Louisbourg — Pepperell — Shirley at 
Oswego — Plans for winter — Lake George — Dieskau — Johnson's 
victory — Rejoicing in England — Troubles in Maryland — Fort 
Cumberland — George Washington — Indian outrages — Terror 
in Annapolis — Monckton in Acadia — Takes three forts — Naval 
affairs — Council of war — New York, 1755 — Sir Charles Hardy 
— Letter from Sharps— Shirley's delay— Death of his son- 
Shirley's plan of campaign — Approved of by council . . 64 



CHAPTER VI 

Acadia and Maryland 

The Acadian exiles — In Nova Scotia — French or English — Oath of 
allegiance — The crisis — Beau Sdjour — Colonel Monckton — 
Governor Shirley — Governor Lawrence — John Winslow — Sen- 
tence of banishment — Anguish of Acadians — Their deportation 

I —Acadians in Maryland— Their treatment— Mr. Callister— 

Nemesis— Story of Le Blanc and Munier . . .83 



CONTENTS xi 

CHAPTER VII 
Shirley's Recall 

PAGE 

Sharpe to Sir Charles Hardy — New commander-in-chief — The Earl 
of Loudoun — Swiss officers — German emigrants — Indians in 
Maryland — Scalping parties — Letters to Gazette — Forts on 
frontiers — George Washington — A gentleman of merit — John 
Winslow — Sir William Johnson— Shirley's failure — Montcalm 
— De L^vis — Sir John St. Clair — His discontent — Colonel 
Bradstreet — His success — Condition of Maryland — Arrival of 
Webb and Abercrombie — Letter from Shirley — Anecdotes 
from Franklin— Shirley's fate — Pennsylvania, . . .94 

CHAPTER VIII 

Loudoun's Arrival 

Friction between provincials and regulars — Montcalm and Oswego 
— Who was to blame ? — Death of Sharpe's brother — Pitt Secre- 
tary of State — Troops for America — The Sharpe family — Gregory 
Sharpe — Anecdote — News from Europe — Battle of Prague — 
Coalition ministry — Loudoun's plan of campaign, 1757 — Sir 
John St. Clair — Louisbourg — Failure of Loudoun — Franklin's 
anecdote — Fort William Henry — Montcalm and De L4vis 
— Fall of the fort — Indian massacre .... 106 

CHAPTER IX 

The Cherokees 

French sovereignty — Population — Cherokees offer services to Eng- 
lish — Letter to Sharpe — Wahachy of Keeway — Ridout and 
Wolstenholme sent as envoys — Their account of mission — 
Indian scalps — Wampum belts — Wahachy's speech . .123 

CHAPTER X 

Loudoun's Recall 

Sharpe's troublesome assembly — No supplies granted — Lord Lou- 
doun's letter — Sharpe to Calvert — Proposal of taxation — Lord 



xii A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

FAOE 

Colville — Sir John St. Clair — Governor Dinwiddle — Quarter- 
ing of troops — Great dissatisfaction — Colonel Haldimand — His 
letter to Sharpe — Lord Loudoun's recall — Abercrombie succeeds 
— Calvert to Sharpe — Colonel Amherst — Expedition to Louis- 
bourg— Sir John St. Clair to Sharpe — Fort Duquesne — 
Brigadier Forbes — Sharpe's action — George Washington — 
Colonel Bouquet — Forbes's campaign — Boscawen's fleet — Am- 
herst and Wolfe — Lake George . . . . .136 



CHAPTER XI 

TiCONDEROGA — LOUISBOURG 

Abercrombie's campaign — His troops — July 1798 — Lake George — 
Lord Howe — His death — Carillon — Montcalm's defence — Aber- 
crombie's orders — Disastrous defeat — Louisbourg — Amherst 
and Wolfe — Victory — Loudoun's triumph — Abercrombie's re- 
call — Amherst succeeds — Colonel Bradstreet — Takes Fort 
Frontenac — Bouquet's road — Convention with Indians — Forbes 
occupies Fort Duquesne . . . . .150 

CHAPTER Xn 

TiCONDEROGA — OsWEQO — NlAGAKA — QUEBEC 

Pitt's instructions — Amherst's work — Governor Sharpe — No 
supplies voted for army — Death of Forbes — Stanwix succeeds — 
Amherst to Sharpe — Campaign of 1759 — Governor Denny — 
Ticonderoga — Letter from Amherst — Haldimand and Oswego 
— Prideaux and Niagara — Death of Prideaux — Sir William 
Johnson succeeds — Takes Fort Niagara — The St. Lawrence — 
Quebec — James Wolfe — Letter in Gazette — London dispatches 
— Death of Montcalm and Wolfe — Quebec taken . .162 

CHAPTER XIII 

1759-1760 

Affairs in Maryland — The church — Letter from ex-governor Din- 
Aviddie to Sharpe — Condition of France — Murray and De Levis 
— Quebec — The second siege — English on defensive — Waiting 



CONTENTS xiii 

PAOK 

for succour— French or English— An English ship— Amherst's 
plans — His descent of the St. Lawrence — Junction of English 
— Montreal — Vaudreuil surrenders — General Murray — Jefifrey 
— Amherst ....... 176 



CHAPTER XIV 
1760-1765 

Sharpe and Lord Baltimore — Whitehall — Story of Woodcarver— 
Secretary Ridout — Appointment to King's Council — Jealousy 
in province — Letter from Calvert — News from London — Pitt's 
resignation — George ni. — Interview with Calvert — His 
Majesty's opinion of Sharpe — The assembly of Maryland — 
Calvert's scheme — Sharpe's answer — Peace of Paris, 1763 — 
Unrest in colonies— Pontiac — Bouquet and Fort Pitt — Treaty 
with Indians — Boundary question — Mason and Dixon's line — 
Presents from Lord Baltimore — His character . . .188 



CHAPTEE XV 

The Stamp Act 

A new cabinet in England — Lord Grenville chief — The Stamp Act 
— Storms in America — Mr. Hood — Mr. Mowbray — The Vir- 
ginians — Convention of assembly— Dispatches from England — 
Death of Secretary Calvert— Hamersley succeeds — His letter 
to Sharpe — Parliamentary report — Pitt's speech— Lord Camden 
— Lord Mansfield — The chancellor— Repeal of Stamp Act . 207 

CHAPTER XVI 

Repeal of Stamp Act, 1766-1768 

Enthusiasm in America — Statue for Chatham — Portrait of Camden 
— Address from assemblies to King — Presented by Lord Bal- 
timore — The liberty lottery — Sale of lands — Rockingham's 
administration ends 1766 — Pitt's return — Townshend's plan 
— The Revenue Act — Sharpe and convict ships — Story of a 
convict — Episcopacy in America — A Maryland parson — Rev. 
Bennett Allen — Another type — Rev. Jonathan Boucher . 225 



xiv A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

CHAPTER XVII 

Last Years in Maryland, 1768-1773 

PAGK 

The Revenue Act — Excitement in America — Pennsylvania farmer s 
letter — John Dickinson — Loyalty to King — Non-importation 
Act unpopular in England — King withdraws taxes except tea 
— Agitation increased — Burke — Horatio Sharpe superseded — 
Letter from Hamersley — Death of Benjamin Tasker — Captain 
Eden appointed Governor — Arrives June 1769 — Lord Balti- 
more's death — Dispute on succession — Character of Sharpe 
— Eddis's letters — Washington's Diary — Gathering storm — 
Sharpe's departure . . . . . .241 

CHAPTER XVIII 

La Debacle 

Revolution — Whitehall — John Ridout — Afterwards . . 252 

APPENDIX 

Maryland and the Lords Baltimore 

George Calvert — Colony in Newfoundland — A new Charter — 
Cfecilius Calvert, founder of Maryland — Leonard Calvert — A 
Representative Legislature — The Indians — Claibourne's Rebel- 
lion — Proprietary government overthrown — The English Re- 
volution — William Stone, Governor — Charles ii. — Davenant 
appointed Governor— Taken prisoner — Cromwell — Restoration 
— Philip Calvert — Charles Calvert — Death of Ctecilius — 
Charles, third Lord Baltimore — Catholics and Protestants — 
William and Mary — A royal governor — Sir Lionel Copley — 
Sir Edmund Andros — Colonel Greenbury — Nicholson — Anne 
Arundel town — ^Blaikiston — Death of Charles Calvert — Bene- 
dict Leonard, fourth Lord Baltimore — Last royal governor — 
Death of Benedict Leonard — Charles, fifth Lord Baltimore — 
Restoration of proprietary rights — Charles Calvert, Governor 
— His death — Benedict Leonard succeeds — Samuel Ogle — 
Thomas Bladen — Death of Charles, fifth Lord Baltimore — 
Succeeded by his only son Frederick — Samuel Ogle, Governor 
— Death in 1753 — Horatio Sharpe 282 

INDEX 297 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Whitehall — Governor Sharpe's Country Seat — 
Front View .... 

GoA'ERNOR Horatio Sharpe .... 

The Colonial Governor's House : Official Residence 
OF Governor Sharpe, 1753-1769 . 

Governor Horatio Sharpe 

Chevalier de Levis .... 

Whitehall ..... 

South Doorway of the Hall at Whitehall 

Facsimile Letter referring to Ridout's Appoint 
MENT to a Seat in the Council 

North-west Doorway of the Hall at Whitehall 

Facsimile Letter from the Boundary Commissioners 

to Governor Sharpe . . . between pp. 204 a/wZ 205 



Frontispiece 


facing page 


2 


55 


11 


55 


94 


55 


180 


55 


188 


55 


190 


55 


192 


55 


194 



Governor Sharpe's Signature . 

Whitehall — Rear View 

The Ridout House 

Cameo Portrait of Governor Sharpe 

Hall of the Chase House 



faci^ig page 212 
245 
248 
250 
253 



xvi A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Mrs. George Samuel Ogle and Child, n^e Anne 

Tasker ....•• facing page 262 

The Upton Scott House . , . . „ 277 

George Benjamin Tasker-Ogle . . • » 280 

Governor Ogle's House . . . . „ 294 



CHAPTER I 

ANNAPOLIS AND HORATIO SHARPE, 1753 

An extract from the Maryland Gazette, then the only news- 
paper in the province, dated Thursday, 16th August 1753, 
gives the following item : 

' Early on Friday morning last, we had the pleasure of 
seeing in the Bay, coming towards the Town with a fair 
gale, a ship with a Flag at her foretop mast-head, which 
proved to be the long wished-for Captain Nicholas Coxen 
in the Molly, with His Excellency Horatio Sharpe our 
Governor. At eight o'clock the ship anchored in the 
Severn near the Town, and at nine His Excellency disem- 
barked and landed in good health at the Dock, where he 
was received by His Honour the President,^ some of the 
gentlemen of His Lordship's Council and a number of other 
gentlemen, 

' From thence they walked through Green Street to His 
Honour the President's, where he tarried till after dinner. 
About four in the afternoon, His Excellency, attended by 
His Honour the President and the members of His Lord- 
ship's Honourable Council, walked to the Council House, 
where His Excellency's Commission was opened and 
pubHshed. After which His Excellency issued the following 
Proclamation.' 

This was the formal announcement of his appointment 
as governor, ending with : 

' Given at the City of Annapolis this 10th day of August, 

^ Hon. Benjamin Tasker. 
A 



2 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

in the 27th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George 
the Second of Great Britain the King, and in the 3rd year of 
His Lordship's Dominion, Anno Dom. 1753. 

' J. Ross. Horatio Sharpe. 

' God Save the King.' 

Passengers with Captain Coxen on this tedious twelve 
weeks' voyage were the Rev. Matthew Harris, his Lordship's 
chaplain ; John Ridout, Esq., his Excellency's secretary ; 
Dr. Upton Scott, his Excellency's physician ; Mr. Daniel 
Wolstenholme, merchant, and Mr. John Murdock. 

A word must be said here to introduce the new governor 
and his companions. 

Horatio Sharpe was a native of Yorkshire and one of a 
numerous family, some of whom distinguished themselves 
in the literary and political world. He was born near Hull, 
Yorkshire, in 1718, and therefore at the date of his arrival 
in America was in his thirty-fifth year. His eldest brother 
was the celebrated Dr. Gregory Sharpe, a prebendary in 
SaMsbury Cathedral, chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales, 
and to George iii., and Master of the Temple. Their mother 
lived at this time in Marlborough Street, London. Governor 
Sharpe's commission as captain in Brigadier - General 
Powlett's regiment of marines, dated 1745, and also his 
commission as lieutenant-colonel of foot in the West 
Indies are still extant.^ His character as an administrator, 
a friend and a citizen, public and private, is portrayed in the 
annals of Maryland. 

An important member of that company on the Molly 

1 The original commissions were bequeathed by Governor Horatio 
Sharpe to his secretary, Hon. John Ridout, and are now in the 
possession of the latter 's great-grandson, Wm. G. Ridout, M.D., of 
Annapolis, to whom I am indebted for much private information contained 
in family letters of the time which have never hitherto been published. 




GOVERNOR HORATIO SHARPE 



To face /. 



ANNAPOLIS AND HORATIO SHARPE, 1753 3 

was Dr. Upton Scott, who came to America as his 
Excellency's physician, and whose presence in that capacity 
throws some light on the military antecedents of Colonel 
Sharpe. Dr. Upton Scott was born in the year 1722 at 
Temple Patrick, County Antrim, Ireland. He received his 
early education at Dublin University, and studied medicine 
with the celebrated Dr. Cullen of Glasgow. After graduating 
at that University, he obtained a surgeon's commission in 
the British army, and served under General, then Colonel, 
Wolfe in Scotland. It was doubtless in this campaign that 
he formed what was to be a lifelong friendship with Horatio 
Sharpe, for though the latter's commission was that of captain 
in the marines, it is also stated that he served with the 
20th regiment of foot, of which regiment James Wolfe 
was lieutenant-colonel. 

Upton Scott resigned his commission as surgeon of the 
20th in order to accompany Sharpe to America, bearing 
with him as a token of remembrance from General Wolfe 
a splendid pair of pistols, now in the possession of Major 
Rogers Birnie of the Ordnance, U.S.A. Afterwards, in 
those sad days before Quebec, when the great general was 
' sick unto death,' it is said that he sent for his friend and 
old comrade to prescribe for him. 

Upton Scott had a very distinguished career in Maryland. 
Being a protege of the governor he soon acquired an excellent 
practice, and in course of time so high a reputation that he 
was often sent for as consulting physician by the adjoining 
colonies. He married Elizabeth Ross, an heiress with a 
large landed estate in Frederick County. An ardent lover 
of flowers he shared this taste with his two friends, Horatio 
Sharpe and John Ridout. 

John Ridout, the youngest of the trio, was born at 
Sherborne, Dorsetshire, England, in 1732, and was there- 



4 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

fore but twenty-one years old when he arrived in Maryland. 
He had just graduated at the University of Oxford after 
five years' residence there, and had been recommended for 
the position of secretary by his Hebrew professor to Dr. 
Gregory Sharpe, who had been commissioned by his brother 
the governor to find him ' a scholar and a gentleman ' to 
accompany him to America. That the place of secretary 
was no sinecure the voluminous correspondence preserved 
in the archives of Maryland bears witness. Of Huguenot 
descent, for the Ridouts had left France in the sixteenth 
century, presumably on account of the religious persecutions 
in that country, John Ridout was throughout his life firm 
in his convictions, straightforward in his conduct and, as 
became his ancestry, somewhat austere. He soon won the 
esteem and affection of Governor Sharpe, whose letters bear 
testimony to the worth of his young secretary. 

And what was this good town of Annapolis like when 
Horatio Sharpe landed there in 1753 ? 

It was in 1694 that Governor Nicholson moved the seat 
of government from St. Mary's to Anne Arundel town, so 
called after the wife of the third Lord Baltimore. Not long 
afterwards that name was changed to Annapolis. We 
read that, in 1696, the secretary of Maryland, Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, with Mr. Bray, waited on the Princess Anne of 
Denmark on behalf of the province, ' to request her gracious 
acceptance of the Governor's and Country's dutiful Respects 
in having denominated the metropolis of the Province there 
but lately built from her Royal Highness' name.' She 
graciously accepted the compliment, and when she ascended 
the throne of England she took the new town under her 
patronage and granted it many marks of royal favour. 
It was an ideal situation for the capital of the province, 
being on a beautiful peninsula at the mouth of the Severn 



ANNAPOLIS AND HORATIO SHARPE, 1753 6 

River, and possessing a harbour that ought to have given 
it the commercial supremacy of the colony. 

It was no mere settlement in the backwoods, nor did it 
spring into existence like the pioneer towns of to-day, where 
log shanties give place to frame dwellings, to be changed 
in a few years to the brick houses of the suburban villa style. 
Annapolis was planned and laid out by English gentlemen, 
or by those whose associations and education were thoroughly 
English. Everywhere was the stamp of elegance and good 
taste. The town houses were of red brick (at first imported 
from England), well and solidly built, as their appearance 
to this day bears witness. The gardens, often terraced to 
the water's edge, were surrounded by the high red-brick walls 
so dear to Enghsh eyes, and full of Enghsh flowers whose 
beds were separated by box borders in the quaint stijff style 
of the Georgian era. 

A curious plan was adopted in the laying out of the city, 
namely, on the highest elevation there was set apart a large 
circle for the government buildings with a radius of 538 feet, 
and further west a smaller circle for the church. From 
these two circles the streets radiated in all directions. 
East of the State or Stadt House, as it was called, and 
between it and the fine harbour was the portion reserved 
for business, and the large wharves and capacious store- 
houses gave evidence of the extensive foreign trade which 
then existed. Ships from all countries came here, bringing 
all that wealth and fashion and culture could desire from 
those lands beyond the sea, and going out again laden 
with that kingly weed, tobacco, which was the principal 
wealth of the province. 

To the west of the State House was the high road, also 
devoted to trade, where were the shops and the homes of 
the tradespeople, who had their own common, Bloomsbury 



6 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Square as it was called, where they could disport themselves 
on high days and holidays ; for very rigorous were the 
restrictions these_same_trad^speople had to submit to in 
this aristocratic town. The very names of the streets were 
entwined with memories of the motherland. There were 
Fleet Street and Cornhill, and, in compliment to the Royal 
Princess who had given her name to the town, Prince 
George Street, so called after her spouse of Denmark, and 
Duke of Gloucester Street, named after her hapless heir. 
There was an endowed school or college, known as King 
William's, afterwards loiown as St. John's, although it 
was much the custom of the wealthy inhabitants to send 
their children home, as they called it, to Eton or Harrow 
and the Universities. 

There was gaiety enough in the pleasure-loving place, 
for the first theatre to be established in America was there, 
and the racecourse was well patronised. Benjamin Tasker 
and Samuel Ogle were lovers of the latter, and were noted 
for the fine horses they imported from England, and as to 
the theatre, it was opened with great eclat by Governor 
Tasker in IZ&2, and the first play-bill ever printed in America 
is to be found in the Maryland 6ra2e^^ejof_the^2nd_ July of 
that year, when it is announced that, by permission of his 
Honour the President, the plays of The Busy Body and The 
Lying Valet will be performed. 

The ballroom ^ was a necessity, and the latest fashions in 
ruffs and silken hose, brocades and velvets were there 
exhibited ; and probably no London assembly turned out 
better-dressed women or more gallant gentlemen. Coaches 
and four, and coaches and six, and outriders, and hveried 
servants, were by no means uncommon ; and royal hos- 
pitality reigned in the country houses, which, like the 

^ The Assembly Room where balls and routs were given, was built on 
land presented to the town by President Tasker. 



ANNAPOLIS AND HORATIO SHARPE, 1753 7 

town houses, were solidly built, with ample accommoda- 
tion, too, in the outbuildings for the indispensable negro 
slaves. ' Bel Air,' Governor Ogle's country seat in Prince 
George's, is described as a stately colonial mansion not 
to be surpassed by more recent structures, and a model 
of convenience and comfort. 

With rivers and bay teeming with fish, oysters, and terra- 
pin ; with the country swarming with game ; with wine, both 
home-made and the choicest brands of Madeira, France and 
Spain, what wonder that gaiety overspread the land, and 
that from 1750, until the Revolution, Annapolis was the 
centre of fashion, culture and hospitality ! 

Among those trim box hedges and quaint gardens of roses 
and hollyhocks, leaning over the sundials that marked the 
Shadow of Time, one might see the young belles of Annapolis, 
patched and powdered, dressed in brocaded gowns and aU 
the latest devices of London fashion, or in gay chintzes and 
gipsy hats, tending the flowers they loved so well. Nor 
were there wanting gallant beaux, who might have stepped 
from Reynolds's canvas, ready to hand them into coach or 
barge, or lead them in the assemblies through stately 
minuets, to those old-world tunes which have vanished like 
the odours of rose leaves and lavender. 

A glance must be taken at some of the members of his 
Lordship's Council and other gentlemen, who met the new 
governor on his arrival. First, of course, comes the Hon. 
Benjamin Tasker, at whose house his Excellency was re- 
ceived. He had been president of the council for thirty- 
two years, and acting-governor since the death of his 
son-in-law, Samuel Ogle, in 1751. His father. Captain 
Thomas Tasker, had settled in Calvert County in 1682. 
He was for many years treasurer of the province, and a 
man of wealth and influence. 



8 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Benjamin Tasker's wife was Anne Bladen, whose brother 
Thomas had also been governor of Maryland. She was the 
granddaughter of Nathaniel Bladen of York, and Isabella, 
daughter of Sir WiUiam Fairfax of Streton, and daughter 
of William Bladen who settled in Annapolis early in the 
eighteenth century. So by marriage the Taskers were 
related to some of the most interesting and prominent people 
in the colony. The Hon. President was not only a pohtician, 
but was also a passionate lover of horses, and founded the 
celebrated Jockey Club of Maryland. He and his only 
son, Benjamin, who shared his father's tastes, owned the 
best racehorses in America, which they imported from 
England, among which was the famous Selina, whose 
successes are told in the annals of the club. 

In the group, no doubt, were the Dulanys, father and son, 
notable as lawyers, statesmen and orators. The history of 
Daniel Dulany, the elder, reads hke a romance. Early in 
the eighteenth century, at the age of eighteen, while a student 
at Trinity College, Dubhn, he quarrelled with his step- 
mother and ran away from his Irish home. In the heat of 
his passion, and without counting the cost, he indentured 
himself, in order to defray his passage money, to the captain 
of a ship sailing for the plantations. On his arrival in 
Annapolis the captain, as the custom was, sold the youth's 
services to Attorney-General Plater, who soon discovered 
that the so-called redemptioner was an educated gentleman. 
With a wisdom and kindness that time justified, Mr. Plater 
articled him in his office for the study of law, and he was 
called to the Maryland Bar in 1710. He then went to 
England and entered at Gray's Inn, and was called to the 
Enghsh Bar in 1716. From that time his career was one 
of honour and influence. Returning to Maryland he married, 
in the orthodox fashion of romance, his benefactor's daughter. 



ANNAPOLIS AND HORATIO SHARPE, 1753 9 

Their eldest son, Daniel Dulany the younger, as he was 
known, was sent to England for his education, first to Eton 
and then to Clare College, Cambridge. He entered at the 
Temple, but returned to practise law in his native province, 
where he married Rebecca, the eldest daughter of President 
Tasker. He won the highest place at the Bar of Maryland, 
and was also frequently engaged to argue cases in England, 
being unsurpassed, it is said, in abihty by any of the Crown 
lawyers of the day. Even the great Pitt was captivated by 
the young colonial statesman. He was noted as the author 
of a pamphlet on the Stamp Act of 1765, called Considera- 
tions on the propriety of imposing taxes on the British 
Colonies for the purpose of raising a revenue by Acts of 
Parliament. Strong as the Dulanys were in opposition to 
the Stamp Act, they remained Tories to the last, and the 
family chose exile and loss of property rather than renounce 
their allegiance to the Crown. The elder Dulany, who was 
a member of his Lordship's Council under Governors Bladen, 
Ogle, and Sharpe, only survived the latter's arrival a few 
months. 

Another notable who must have been present at the 
governor's reception was Thomas Addison of Oxon Hill, 
a descendant of Colonel John Addison, who came out to 
the province in 1667, and was the brother of Launcelot 
Addison, Dean of Lichfield. Many letters from the famous 
Joseph Addison are said to have found their way to his 
cousins of Maryland. 

Nor must we forget to mention in that company of gentle- 
men Charles Carroll, whose father had emigrated from 
Ireland in 1686, and had been agent and receiver of rents 
for many years for the Lords Baltimore. He was the father 
of Carroll of Carrolton, so famous in the history of the 
Revolution. 



10 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Two others were present that day at the President's 
reception, Mistress Mary Ogle, the ten-year old daughter 
of the late governor, and her little brother Benjamin, who 
had come to their grandfather's house to see the fine com- 
pany assembled there. As the httle maid looked with 
wondering eyes at the stately figure of the new governor 
little did she dream that he would one day be a suitor for 
her hand, and that the grave young student by his side 
would be the husband of her choice. And the boy — if it 
had been given him to peep into the future, he might have 
seen the day when he, too, would be governor of Maryland, 
but elected by the people, when proprietary governments 
and royal warrants should have vanished for ever. 

NOTE ON THE RIDOUT FAMILY. 

The Ridouts (spelt also Rideout) of Sherborne, were descendants of 
Thomas Ridout of Henstridge, Somerset. The family came originally 
from France from the neighbourhood of Fontainebleau and settled in 
England about the middle of the sixteenth century. 

In Hutchins' Visitation of the Somerset, now in the College of Arms, 
London, mention is made of the granting of a coat-of-arms in 1551 to 
Thomas Ridout of Henstridge. These arms bear a striking resemblance 
to those borne by the de Rideouts de Sance (see Hozier's Armorial General 
of the French Nobility), near Fontainebleau. 

In the will of Walter Ridout of Langlin, Dorset, a descendant of 
Thomas, dated 1582, among other legacies he bequeaths a large sum of 
money to the church at Fontainebleau. Christopher Ridout, son of Thomas, 
was baptized at Henstridge, Somerset, 24th November 1664, and settled in 
Sherborne, Dorset. His eldest son, George, born at Sherborne in 1702, was 
the father of the John Ridout who came to America with Horatio Sharpe. 
Another descendant of Thomas of Henstridge settled in Bristol, and 
mention is made in Hutchins of the marriage in 1674 of Susannah, 
daughter of John Ridout of Bristol to Thomas Strangways of Melbury, 
Dorsetshire. Their granddaughter Elizabeth married Stephen Fox, who 
was created Earl of Ilchester. 



CHAPTER II 

ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 

Government House, Annapolis, was not finished when 

Horatio Sharpe arrived, but in spite of the difficulty in 

getting the assembly to vote supplies for its completion, 

it was ready for occupation by the close of the year. There 

is a letter, dated 5th January 1754, from Caecilius Calvert, 

Lord Baltimore's uncle and secretary, in which he says : 

' My Lord wishes the completion of Government House, and 

hopes the Assembly will find means to finish their work, 

especially as requisite Lustre to his Province will not want 

his valuable gift.' From this curiously involved sentence 

it may be inferred that his Lordship wished the governor 

to entertain sumptuously. Nor was his Excellency loath 

to exercise hospitality, and the bachelor governor's parties 

were in high favour. 

No governor in America had a more charming home or 

more dehghtful surroundings. The house overlooked the 

harbour, with a fine sweep of lawn reaching down to the 

water, and stretching along the harbour's front as far as 

the mouth of the Severn. On each side of the central hall 

were rooms that might be used for the official business of 

the governor or for reception rooms. To the rear was the 

great drawing-room or state dining-room, whose windows 

gave a charming view over lawns and water. Here many a 

gay party assembled during the fifteen years of Governor 

Sharpe's rule, and of some entertainments there remain 

descriptions in the Maryland Gazette, whose local columns, 

11 



12 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

meagre as they are, still furnish entertaining items of 
social news. Turn over those pages yellow with age and 
read : 

'Annapohs, Thursday, 21st February 1754. Sunday last 
being the Birthday of the Rt. Honourable the Lord Balti- 
more, Proprietary of the Province, when he entered into the 
Twenty-Third year of his age, the same was observed here 
on Monday. His Excellency the Governor made an elegant 
entertainment at his own House at Dinner for a great 
number of Gentlemen and Ladies. In the afternoon the 
Public Healths were drunk, the great guns firing at each 
Health, and in the Evening His Excellency gave a Public 
Ball in the Council Chamber, where all the Loyal Healths 
were repeated, and the Ball lasted till two o'clock at which 
the Ladies and Gentlemen made a gay appearance. There 
was a large bon-fire made in the Common when a Hogshead 
of Punch was given to the populace and the greatest part 
of the town was beautifully illuminated.' 

Another item gives an account of the races : ' 25th April 
1754. On the 15th inst. His Excellency's gift of twenty 
pounds was run for near Talbot County Court House by 
four horses. There were a great number of people on the 
Race Ground, supposed to be upwards of 2000 Horses, 
besides a great number of carriages, and in the middle of 
the ground was erected a stage about sixty feet in length 
and twenty in width for the reception of His Excellency and 
a number of Gentlemen and Ladies who could from thence 
view the Horses quite round the Course. The prize was won 
by a horse belonging to Mr. Rice.' 

But balls and dinners and races and play -going were not 
the only occupations of the governor, for he had fallen upon 
troublous times, and firmness and good sense, energy and 
moderation were needed. Fortunately, Horatio Sharpe 



ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 13 

possessed these qualities, and though his patience was often 
sorely tried, he managed to execute his duty with fairness 
and prudence. Although selected for the position he held 
partly through family influence, his brother William being 
one of the guardians of the young proprietary, Colonel 
Sharpe's appointment was probably due also to his military 
and colonial experience. He had seen service (his commis- 
sion as colonel mentions his experience in mihtary affairs), 
and it was thought necessary to place a soldier at the head of 
a province which lay so near the frontier already threatened 
by the French. The situation in Maryland may be briefly 
told. 

In 1748, the Ohio Company had been formed by Thomas 
Lee and twelve others, including Lawrence and Augustine 
Washington and John Hanbury, a Quaker merchant of 
London. The company had a grant of five hundred thou- 
sand acres of land on the Ohio, between the Monongahela 
and Kanawha rivers, west of the Alleghanies. Two hundred 
thousand a<3res were to be settled immediately, ' free from 
quit rent or other tax to the King,' on condition that the 
company should, at their own expense, settle one hundred 
families on the land within seven years, build a fort and 
maintain a garrison. Trading posts were soon established ; 
but no sooner was this done than the French began to 
pillage and destroy them, looking upon the advance of the 
English towards the west as an encroachment on their 
territory. 

In 1749, the Marquis de la Jonquiere succeeded the 
Marquis de la Galissoniere as governor of Canada. The 
latter had conceived the idea of linking all the French 
possessions in America by a chain of forts from the St. 
Lawrence and the Great Lakes, by way of the Ohio and 
Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico. De la Jonquiere 



14 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

endeavoured to carry out this plan, but died in 1752. He 
was succeeded by the Marquis Duquesne de Menneville, 
who was governor of Canada on Sharpe's arrival. The 
latter's correspondence shows how keenly he felt the gravity 
of the situation, and how necessary it was for all the English 
colonies to unite in resistance to the aggressions of the 
French. 

Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, though not a military 
man, was already engaged in efforts to defend the English 
trading-posts on the Ohio. In the spring of 1753, the 
French had built a strong fort at Presqu'isle on Lake Erie, 
and another at Riviere aux Boeufs south of the lake, where 
Legardeur de Saint Pierre was placed at the head of a 
strong garrison. In order to protest against their marauding 
expeditions, Governor Dinwiddie, in October 1753, sent 
George Washington, then a youth of twenty-one, on an 
embassy to the French commander. It was a difficult and 
dangerous expedition. His route lay through a hostile 
Indian country for one hundred and fifty miles from Williams- 
burg to the shores of Lake Erie ; but the young envoy, 
whose only companions were a guide and an interpreter, 
accomplished the journey unmolested, and delivered his 
message. This was a demand to evacuate the country as 
lying within the domains of His Majesty the King of 
England. Instead of complying, the French commandant 
replied that it was more the part of his commander, the 
governor of Canada, than his, to dispute with the governor 
of Virginia about the property of the land. He was only 
concerned with his commanding officer's orders, which he 
was determined punctually to obey, and repel by force 
whatever power should attempt to dislodge or interrupt 
him in the execution of his duty. 

Although since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, 



ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 15 

there had been a temporary suspension of hostilities between 
England and France, the treaty left the boundary of their 
respective American possessions still unsettled, and the 
French claimed, not only the Great Lakes, but the Mississippi 
with its tributary streams and the lands they watered. 
All along the route, in token of the sovereignty of its 
monarch, the lilies of France were blazoned on the trees, or 
carved on metal plates sunk in the ground. It is not 
surprising then that Washington's demand was not complied 
with. Indeed, the French laughed to scorn the idea of 
giving up the territory they claimed, and, during the winter 
and spring of 1754, they prepared a strong force to invade 
and occupy the valley of the Ohio. 

The claims of the French encroached on the lands of 
Virginia, so Governor Dinwiddle was eager to take decisive 
steps to resist their advance. He writes to Sharpe : 

' Williamsburg, 
' Virginia, 29th January 1754. 

' Sir, — Your kind assurances of co-operating with me in 
the Common cause for His Majestie's Service gave me much 
pleasure, as a zeal like that which inspired them ought to 
give. The Progress of the French and their avowed 
Designs make it necessary for me to apply for your Assist- 
ance, and that the men you can furnish may join our People 
as early as Possible, in March, at a Place called Wills Creek 
on the Head of Potowmack which I have chosen for the 
Rendezvous, believing it to be the most convenient in all 
the Colonies of any that is near the scene of action. The 
French have fortified themselves on Lake Erie and on a 
Branch of the Ohio, and have 220 Canoes ready made, and 
a great many more blocked out, and everything in readiness 
to execute their design of falling down the River when the 



16 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

waters serve in the Spring, and building forts at any place of 
consequence. They have already engaged the Chippeways, 
Ottaways, and Arundacks to take up the Hatchet against 
the English, and themselves have seized the Effects of His 
Majesty's Subjects who were settled there, and have made 
Prisoners of their Persons. Since writing the above I 
received yours of the 26th of December, and am mighty glad 
of the Hopes you have that your Assembly will enable you 
to raise men for the support of His Majesty's undoubted 
rights to the lands on the Ohio, and at the same time to 
protect the Colonies from the Insolence of those that would 
disturb our Peace.' 

He writes again on 23rd February 1754 : 

' SiE, — I received the Favour of your Letter of the 10th 
Curr. and observe your Assembly were to meet the 25th, 
and hope they will cheerfully aid the intended Expedition 
against the Enemies of our Country. I prorogued our 
Assembly this Day. They have given £10,000 for the 
support of His Majesty's Rights to the Lands on the Ohio, 
in consequence thereof I design immediately to raise five 
or six companies of men to march to Wills Creek. I have 
wrote to the Cherokees and Catawba Nations of Indians to 
the southward of this who some months ago offered a body 
of 1000 of their warriors to go to the Ohio. I have by 
express ordered their marching to the Ohio to defend their 
Hunting Grounds, which, if they comply with, I am in 
hopes we shall make some figure there.' 

Still again Dinwiddle writes to Governor Sharpe : 

t Willi AMSBTTRG,. 25th March 1754. 
' Yours of the 1 1th duely received, and am heartily sorry 
your Assembly will not assist with Forces to repell the 



ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 17 

unjustifiable Encroachments of the French. The President 
of North Carohna writes me that their Assembly have 
voted £120,000, and tliat they are enlisting men accordingly 
and think they will raise 750. The Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania 1 thinks he will be able to prevail with the Assembly 
to grant a handsome supply. I have raised 300 men, 
which, with a Company under Captain Trent's command 
now at the Ohio, is all I can propose to raise from the small 
sum given by our Assembly. I am thoroughly convinced 
of your assiduous endeavours with your people, but there 
is no resisting an ill-founded Prejudice. If they would 
look forward and consider the dismal consequences that 
must follow the settlement of the French so near our frontiers, 
they certainly would cheerfully assist with a proper supply. 
Besides, they ought to show themselves good subjects, as 
the Dignity of the Crown, His Majesty's just right to these 
Lands, and the safety of all the Colonies much depends on 
this expedition.' 

No wonder Governor Dinwiddle exclaimed in despair 
some time afterwards in one of his letters : ' A Governor in 
the discharge of his Duty to his King and Country is much 
to be pitied, when it is considered his Transactions with an 
obstinate Assembly.' 

Governor Sharpe's difficulties are told in a letter to Lord 
Baltimore, 6th June 1754 : 

' Thursday last I prorogued the Assembly to the 16th of 
next July, after a session of three weeks, in which time I 
succeeded with them so far as to procure the sum of £500 
for a present to be sent to the Six Nation Indians, who are 
to be met in obedience to the letter from the Lords of Trade, 
at Albany, the 14th inst. by Commissioners from the several 
Governments on the Continent.' 

^ Morris. 
B 



18 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

In 1752, Governor Dinwiddle liad urged upon the Lords of 
Trade the establishment of two separate confederacies for 
the North and the South. Others had suggested that all 
the colonies should be united under one central govern- 
ment, and in 1754 the Earl of Holdernesse, then secretary 
of state, recommended that a congress of all the colonies 
should be held at Albany for the object of securing co- 
operation against the French, and also of making an alliance 
with the Indians. Only seven of the colonies, however, sent 
delegates to this the first congress in America. Maryland's 
delegates were Benjamin Tasker ^ and Abraham Barnes. 

The congress adopted a form of union drawn up by 
Benjamin Frankhn, which proposed that the general govern- 
ment was to be administered by a president appointed and 
supported by the Crown, and a council chosen by the repre- 
sentatives of the several colonies. This council was to 
consist of forty-eight members. A new election of members 
was to be made triennially. No province was to be entitled 
to more than seven or less than two councillors. The assent 
of the president was required to all acts of the council, by 
whose advice he could hold treaties with the Indians, regu- 
late trade, make peace, or declare war. The council was 
authorised to raise and pay soldiers, build forts, equip 
vessels to guard the coast and protect the trade on the ocean 
or lakes, and levy such duties as were necessary to defray 
the expenses accruing. The laws made were not to be 
repugnant, but, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws of 
England, and were to be transmitted to the King for 
approval as soon as possible. If not disapproved within 

1 Mr. Tasker kept a diary of his journey on horseback from Annapolis 
to Albany. At Philadelphia he was joined by Dr. Franklin, and they 
went on from that city together. This diary is mentioned in a private 
letter, but has not come to light. It would prove, doubtless, an interesting 
document, and it is to be hoped that it will yet be found. 



ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 19 

three years, they were to be considered in force. The first 
meeting of the government was to be held in Philadelphia. 

Although this form was adopted by the congress, it was 
not accepted by the provincial or home governments. 
Benjamin Franklin, speaking of it afterwards, said the 
assemblies all thought there was too much prerogative in it, 
and England thought it was too democratic. 

In April 1754, by the orders of Governor Dinwiddle of 
Virginia, the building of a small fort had been begun by 
Captain Trent and seventy or eighty men at the junction of 
the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, and about three 
hundred militia under Colonel Joseph Fry were on their 
way to garrison it, followed by another detachment under 
Washington. Contrecoeur, however, before these reinforce- 
ments could arrive, appeared in force, and the English were 
compelled to withdraw, leaving their half-completed works 
in the hands of the French, who immediately proceeded to 
strengthen the fort with the materials at hand, and gave 
to it, in honour of the governor of Canada, the name of 
Fort Duquesne. Colonel Fry was soon after accidentally 
killed by a fall from his horse, leaving George Washington in 
command. 

Washington, who was on his way to the fort with his 
detachment, on hearing of the surrender, determined to 
await the arrival of the rest of the expected troops from 
Carolina and New York, and set about making a road from 
the frontier towards the fort. While thus employed he fell 
in with a small party of the French under Coulon de Jumon- 
ville, who was killed with several others of his party in the 
skirmish that followed. The rest were taken prisoners. 

Contrecoeur, to avenge the death of the French com- 
mander, sent Coulon de Villiers, brother of Coulon de 
Jumonville, with six hundred men to attack the Eno^lish 



20 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

troops, who threw up hasty defences at a place called the 
Great Meadows, but named by the latter Fort Necessity. 
This they were not able to hold, and, on the 3rd of July 
1754, Washington was forced to capitulate. In the terms 
of capitulation was found the word ' assassination,' referring 
to the death of Jumonville. 

Governor Sharpe writes to his brother John Sharpe his 
account of the disastrous affair as follows. It may be 
presumed that it was given him by one who was present. 
' On being informed of the Ennemy's near approach they 
retired to a little useless kind of Intrenchment in a valley 
between two eminences. The French came in sight about 
noon and immediately took possession of one of the Emin- 
ences where every soldier found a large Tree for his shelter 
from the fire of the English, and placing himself behind it 
fired away on the Troops beneath as fast as he could load. 
This continued some time, and more than thirty of the 
English fell, but only one Cadet and two privates of the 
French. The wily French Captain, finding that the am- 
munition of his party was giving out (for they had only a 
Handful of Ball each and powder in proportion distributed 
to them when they left the Fort, besides an insufficient 
supply of victuals), ordered a parley, not doubting that the 
English would in their miserable situation, and not sensible 
what were his fears, gratefully accept any conditions that 
he should be pleased to offer, in which opinion he was not 
indeed at all mistaken.' 

Dinwiddle writes to Sharpe : 

' Williamsburg, 31st July 1754. 

' Col. Washington's orders from me was by no means to 
attack the Ennemy till the whole Forces were joined in a 
body, and they knew no Intention of the Ennemy till the 



ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 21 

very morning they engaged them. If the misfortune 
attending our Forces has roused the Spirit of our neighbour- 
ing Colonies, as you justly observe, it has done more than 
probably a victory would have effected. Excuse Brevity 
and Scralls, being much hurried. I send you a copy of the 
Capitulation which from the small number of our troops 
they were obliged to accept of. 

' " Capitulation granted by Monsieur de Villiers, Captain 
and Commander of Infantry and Troops of His Most Christian 
Majesty, to those Enghsh Troops actually in the Fort of 
Necessity which was built on the Lands of the King's 
Dominions, July 3rd, 1754, at eight o'clock at night. As our 
intentions have never been to trouble the peace and good 
Harmony which reigns between the two princes in Amity, 
but only to revenge the assassination Committed on one of 
our Officers, Bearer of a Citation, as appears in his writing, 
as also to hinder any establishment on the Lands of the 
King my Master, etc. 

' " 1st. We grant leave to the English Commander to 
retire with all his Garrison and to return peaceably into his 
own country. 

' " 2nd. It shall be permitted him to go out and carry 
with him all that belongs to them except the artillery which 
we keep. 

' " 3rd. That we will allow them the honours of war, that 
they march out with Drums beating, and a Swivel Gun, 
being willing to shew them that we treat them as friends. 

' " 4th. That as soon as the Articles are signed by both 
parties, the Enghsh Colours shall be struck. 

' " 5th. That to-morrow at break of Day a Detachment 
of French shall go and make the Garrison file ofiE and take 
possession of the Fort. 

' " 6th. As the English have but few Oxen and Horses, 



22 ANNAPOLIS AND FORT NECESSITY 

they are free to hide their Effects and to come again and 
search for them when they have got a sufficient number 
of Horses to carry them off, and that for this end they may 
leave what guards they please, on Condition that they give 
their word of Honour not to work upon any Buildings in 
this Place or any part this side the Mountains during the 
space of one year to commence from this Day. 

' " 7th. And as the English have in their power an Officer, 
two Cadets, and most of the Prisoners made in the Assassina- 
tion of the Sieur de Jumonville, they must promise to send 
them back with a Safe Guard to the Fort du Gurne, situated 
on the fine River,i and for surety of performing this article, 
as well as the Treaty, Mr, Jacob Van Braam,^ and Robert 
Stobo,^ both Captains, shall be kept as Hostages till the 
arrival of the Canadians and French above mentioned. We 
oblige ourselves on our Side to give an Escort to return in 
Safety these two Officers, and expect to have our French in 
two months and a half at farthest." ' 

In a letter to Lord Bury, Governor Sharpe says that 
Washington ' was prevailed on to sign a dishonourable 
Capitulation owing, he declares, not to these difficulties, 
but to the Infidelity of one of his Captains, now a Hostage 
with the Ennemy, on whom he depended to interpret to 
him the Terms and Conditions purposed which were written 
in French, a language that Mr. Washington had the misfor- 
tune to be entirely unacquainted with.' 

So without blazon of victory, but under the shadow of 
disaster, ' one, IVIr. Washington,' appears on the scene. 

^ La Belle Riviere as the Ohio was called. 

* Washington's old fencing master. 

' Robert Stobo, a Scotsman, was taken to Quebec, and during the 
years he remained a prisoner there learnt much of the place and its 
surroundings. He escaped to Halifax, and thence joined Wolfe at 
Quebec in 1759, to whom he made an efficient guide. 



CHAPTER III 

braddock's arrival 

' Saddened and humbled in spirit the young officer presented himself 
after a while to his old friends at Castlewood. He was very young ; 
before he set forth on his first campaign he may have indulged in 
exaggerated hopes of success, and uttered them. " I was angry when I 
parted from you," he said to George Warrington, holding out his hand 
which the other eagerly took. " You seemed to scorn me and my regiment, 
George. I thought you laughed at us, and your ridicule made me angry ; 
I boasted too much of what we would do." " Nay, you have done your 
best, George," says the other. " Everybody knows that a hundred and fifty 
starving men, with scarce a round of ammunition left, could not face five 
times their number perfectly armed, and everybody who knows Mr. 
Washington knows that he would do his duty. Harry and I saw the 
French in Canada last year. They obey but one will : in our provinces 
each Governor has his own. They were royal troops the French sent 
against you." " Oh, but that some of ours were here ! " cries Madam 
Esmond, tossing her head up, " I promise you a few good English regiments 
would make the whitecoats run."' — The Virginians. 

Madam Esmond was not alone in this opinion. There 
were many in Virginia and Maryland who thought that the 
raw levies of the provinces were not able to cope with the 
tried troops of His Most Christian Majesty Louis xv. In 
the meantime, a commission arrived for Governor Sharpe, 
appointing him ' Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forces intended 
to be sent against the Forces which have invaded His 
Majesty's Dominions, from Frederick, Absolute Lord 
Proprietor of the Province of Maryland and Avalon in 
America, and Baron of Baltimore in the Kingdom of Ireland.' 

The commission goes on to say : 'That you do in the most 
serious and earnest manner recommend it to the good 
people of my said Province, that they do in furtherance of 

23 



24 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

His Majesty's Royal intention most heartily co-operate 
with His Majesty and the neighbouring governments by 
granting such effectual supplies and prosecuting such 
rigorous measures against the Common Enemy as shall 
demonstrate to all future ages the distinguished zeal and 
Loyalty of this my Province of Maryland to their Sovereign 
and the cause of their Country.' Almost at the same time 
Sharpe received a commission as commander-in-chief from 
His Majesty George ii. 

Colonel Sharpe was much pleased at his appointment 
and lost no time in going to see and consult with his friend, 
good Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia. The Gazette of 17th 
October 1754 has this announcement : ' Sunday evening 
last His Excellency our Governor received an express from 
Williamsburg, and next day between 12 and 1 o'clock His 
Excellency accompanied by some gentlemen from hence 
sailed in a small schooner with a fair brisk wind for Virginia.' 
The next Thursday's Gazette continues : ' We hear that His 
Excellency on his way to Virginia put into Patuxent, the first 
night after he left home, to Colonel Fitzhugh's, and tarry'd 
there till Thursday morning, when the wind not being 
favourable His Excellency set off by land for Wilhamsburg.' 
Rousby Hall, near the mouth of the Patuxent, the country 
seat of Colonel Wilham Fitzhugh, was one of the many 
charming country houses that abounded in that land of 
hospitahty. No doubt the distinguished party were made 
very welcome, and over the best of cheer the old soldiers 
talked of past campaigns and of ihQ coming one, which 
naturally was the absorbing topic of the day. Colonel 
Fitzhugh, at an early period of his life, had entered the 
British army, and served with Admiral Vernon in his attacks 
on Carthagena. He was the friend and companion of 
Lawrence Washington, and equally intimate with George 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 25 

Washington. From Williamsburg Colonel Sharpe wrote to 
Sir Thomas Robinson, then secretary of state, an acknow- 
ledgment of the receipt of His Majesty's commission, as 
follows : 

* Williamsburg, 25th October 1754. 
' I take the liberty by the first opportunity most gratefully 
to acknowledge the Receipt of His Majesty's most gracious 
favour which was presented me by Governor Dobbs ^ last 
Saturday, together with a letter which yourself was pleased 
to honour me with the 5th of July. I entreat you to assure 
His Majesty that no one can be more truly sensible of the 
honour He has been pleased to confer on me than I am, 
and that it shall be my constant Study and Endeavour to 
manifest the most dutiful and punctual Obedience to His 
Royal Pleasure now signified to me and to whatever future 
Commands and Instructions I may have the Satisfaction to 
receive. On Governor Dinwiddle intimating to me the 
Receival of His Majesty's Orders I immediately set out for 
this place to take his advice how I may best execute the 
Commission I found myself honoured with, and to consult 
him about taking the most expedient measures for the 
Defence of His Majesty's Dominion on this Continent at this 
time, and with the small Force that we shall be able to collect 
this winter or early in the ensuing spring. In pursuance of 
his and Governor Dobbs' advice and approbation I propose 
if possible to raise 700 men immediately who will, I hope, 
if a very severe season does not set in, be able in conjunction 
with the three Independent Companies to carry the Fort, 
called Fort Du Quesne, which the French have built upon 
the River Monongahela, before a Re-inforcement can be 
sent the Garrison from Canada, or the French Settlements in 
that part of the Continent which they call Louisiana. If 

^ Governor of North Carolina. 



26 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

the several colonies should be persuaded to increase our 
American forces enough in the Spring to afford us a Prospect 
of making a successful attempt upon the Fort that the French 
have completed on Buffaloe River near Lake Erie you will 
be pleased to think that I will with the greatest Alacrity 
prosecute that Service. I must at present confess that the 
strength of the Ennemy in those parts, their superior know- 
ledge of the Country which is likely to be the scene of Action, 
and their numerous Alliances among the Indian Nations, 
forbid me to flatter myself, unless the Colonies grant 
supplies beyond my expectations, with hopes of any very 
important successes against our Ennemy who are strength- 
ened by Unanimity among themselves. Upon this con- 
sideration I cannot indeed but entertain some suspicion 
that these His Majesty's Dominions can never be effectually 
secured from the Encroachments of the French and Devasta- 
tions of their Indian AlUes, unless the Ennemy be com- 
pelled to relinquish at once the several Fortresses that they 
have built on the Lakes and Rivers behind us, and we take 
possession and garrison them ourselves. But as I look at 
this as too great a Design to be executed or ever attempted 
with such assistance and supphes only as the several 
Colonies will be prevailed on to advance, without they be 
supported by such a Body of Troops from Home as I dare 
not presume to hope for the Direction of, I forbear saying 
any more on such a scheme, but confine my hopes with a 
Resolution to endeavour to shew myself not entirely 
unworthy of the Charge with which His Majesty has been 
pleased already to entrust me. As there is great Room to 
fear that the Disputes which have arisen and still subsist 
between the Independent Companies and the Troops which 
the Colonies have raised on this Occasion may be carried 
to such a length as to distress the Service unless some 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 27 

remedy be timely applied I humbly hope that what Governor 
Dinwiddie writes on this matter will be thought to deserve 
some Consideration.' 

The Independent companies were troops raised in the 
colonies, but whose officers held commissions from the 
Crown ; whereas officers of the provincials held their com- 
missions from the governors of their respective provinces. 
There was constant friction between them as to rank. 

Washington at this time had resigned his commission. 
An order had just come from England settling the rank of 
the officers of His Majesty's forces when serving with the 
provincials in North America. It was therein directed that 
all officers commissioned by the King or his generals should 
take rank over all officers commissioned by the governors 
of the respective provinces ; further, that the general and 
field officers of the provincial troops should have no rank 
when serving with the general and other commissioned 
officers commissioned by the Crown. The young provincial 
colonel was not inclined to submit to these regulations and 
therefore retired into private life. 

Colonel Sharpe and Colonel Fitzhugh, well knowing his 
good qualities as a soldier, in spite of the disaster of the year 
before, did all that they could to induce him to alter his 
determination, but he was not to be persuaded by them 
and went back to his farm. 

Colonel Sharpe's first office as commander-in-chief was to 
set o£f to inspect all the military posts on the frontier, leaving 
Colonel Fitzhugh as his second in command in the province. 
The governor is thus described by an officer writing from 
Fort Cumberland,^ or Wills Creek, on 21st November : 

' Fort Cumberland at the junction of Wills Creek and the Potomac on 
the site of the present town of Cumberland, Alleghany County. 



28 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

' We had the pleasure of being joined three days ago by 
His Excellency Colonel Sharpe with one Company from 
Maryland. He appears to be a stirring active gentleman, 
and by his method of proceeding I believe a very good 
soldier ; cheerful and free, of good conduct, and one who 
won't be trifled with.' 

News in those days was long in transmission, and Washing- 
ton's affair at the Great Meadows in July was not com- 
mented on from England until months had passed. In a 
letter from Secretary Calvert to Sharpe, dated London, 
10th December 1754, we find the current opinion there of 
Washington's capitulation : ' The affair of the Ohio, the 
defeat of Major Washington by the French, is the sub- 
ject here. Lost from his unmilitary skill. Major-General 
Braddock with considerable Forces and a great Train of 
Artillery having taken departure for America leaves me little 
to say on that Head as his arrival will inform you of the 
expedition.' 

While Horatio Sharpe was making every preparation for 
his intended expedition against Fort Duquesne, a letter 
was on its way from the secretary of state, Sir Thomas 
Robinson, informing him of the despatch of two regiments 
to America under the command of a general officer, who 
would, of course, be commander-in-chief of all the colonial 
forces. 

The letter is dated Whitehall, 20th October 1754 : 

' Sir, — Having informed you in my letter of July 5th 
that the King had under His Royal Consideration the State 
of Affairs in North America ; I am now to acquaint you that 
amongst other measures that are thought proper for the 
Defence of His Majesty's Just Rights and Dominions in 
those parts the King has not only been pleased to order 
two Regiments of Foot consisting of 500 men each besides 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 29 

commissioned and non-commissioned Officers, commanded by 
Sir Peter Halkett and Colonel Dunbar, to repair to Virginia 
and to be there augmented to the number of 700 each, but 
likewise to send orders to Governor Shirley and Sir William 
Pepperell to raise Two Regiments whereof they are respec- 
tively appointed as Colonels of 1000 men each, and also 
to sign Commissions for a number of Officers to serve in the 
said Two Regiments and who will forthwith repair to North 
America. Whereas there will be wanting a considerable 
number of men to make up the designed Complements of 
the said Four Regiments ; it is His Majesty's pleasure that 
you should be taking the previous Steps toward contributing, 
as far as you can, to have about Three Thousand Men in 
readiness to be enlisted. And it is His Majesty's Intention 
that a general Officer of Rank and Capacity to be appointed 
to command in chief all the King's forces in North America, 
a Deputy Quarter Master General and a Commissary of the 
Musters shall set out as soon as conveniently may be, in 
order to prepare every Thing for the Arrival of the Forces 
above mentioned from Europe, and for the Raising of the 
others in America. The King will not therefore imagine 
that either you, or the rest of His Governors, will suffer the 
least neglect or Delay in the Performance of the present 
Service, particularly with regard to the following Points, 
namely : That you should carefully provide a sufficient 
Quantity of fresh Victuals, at the Expence of your Govern- 
ment to be ready for the use of these Troops at their Arrival. 
That you should likewise furnish the Officers who may have 
occasion to go from Place to Place with all necessaries for 
travelling by Land in case there are no means of going by 
Sea, and that you should use your utmost Diligence and 
Authority in procuring an exact observance of such Orders 
as shall be issued from Time to Time by the Commander-in- 



30 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

chief for quartering the Troops, impressing Carriages and 
providing all Necessaries for such Forces as shall arrive or 
be raised within your Government. As the Articles above 
mentioned are of a local and peculiar nature and arising 
entirely within your Government it is almost needless for 
me to acquaint you, that His Majesty will expect that the 
charge thereof be defrayed by His Subjects belonging to 
the same. But with regard to such other Articles which 
are of more general concern it is the King's Pleasure that 
the same should be supplied by common Fund to be estab- 
lished for the benefit of all the Colonies collectively in North 
America. For which Purpose you will use your utmost 
Endeavour to induce the Assembly of your Province to 
raise forthwith as large a sum as can be afforded, as their 
Contribution to the Common Fund, to be employed pro- 
visionally for the general Service of North America particu- 
larly for paying the Charge of levying the Troops to make up 
the Complements of the Regiments above mentioned until 
such Time as a Plan of a general Union of His Majesty's 
Northern Colonies, for their Common Defence, can be 
perfected. As it is the King's Intention to give all proper 
Encouragement to such Persons, who shall engage to serve 
upon this occasion, you will acquaint all such persons, in the 
King's name, that they will receive arms and Clothing from 
him. As the several Governors in all the King's Provinces 
and Colonies in North America will receive by this convey- 
ance a letter to the same Effect with this which I now send 
you, they will be prepared at the same Time to obey His 
Majesty's commands. And I am to direct you to correspond 
with all or either of Them occasionally as you shall find it 
Expedient for the General Service.' 

All was now excitement in Maryland. Governor Sharpe, 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 31 

like the loyal gentleman that he was, seems to have taken 
most amiably his deposition from the post of commander-in- 
chief and entered with vigour into the preparations for the 
coming campaign. Volunteering went on enthusiastically 
all over the province, and the governor wrote to Lord Balti- 
more : ' As to levying any number of men I conceive we 
shall not find it difHcult. But the difficulty will be to get 
money from the Assemblies to support them after they are 
raised.' On accouiat of the persistent refusals of the 
Assemblies, particularly those of Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
and Maryland, to grant supplies for the maintenance of 
troops, Sharpe proposed that the British Legislature should 
bring in a Bill at their next session, making it obhgatory on 
all the provinces and colonies to contribute equally for the 
defence and protection of His Majesty's dominions. He 
suggested that one of the following methods might be 
adopted for raising a fund in the several provinces : ' By 
imposing an equal Poll Tax or by a Duty on the importation 
of Spirituous Liquors and Wines or an excise on such as may 
be either imported or made on the Continent, or by a Stamp 
Duty or something similar to it in Deeds and Writings. 
If such a proposal as the last mentioned should be made it 
would be well to guard against any words being inserted 
in the Bill that may be construed to affect Patents for Land, 
and it would, I conceive, be proper for the Law to order the 
Enrollment of all Deeds of Bargain and Sale and to invali- 
date all Deeds of Trust unless they be also properly stamped 
and enrolled as well as Deeds of Sale in the Provincial or 
County Clerk's Office, where I apprehend the Stamp or Seal 
might be lodged.' 

This, then, was an outline of the famous Stamp Act that 
ten years later was to cause such an upheaval throughout 
the colonies. 



32 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

In a letter to Lord Baltimore on 12th January 1755, 
Governor Sharpe mentions the letter received from Sir 
Thomas Robinson, exhorting him to raise such supphes as 
the present danger required, and goes on to say : ' On the 
receipt of this letter I desired the advice of your Lordship's 
Council whether to issue Proclamation for the Assembly to 
meet before the Day appointed to consider of granting of 
requisite supplies and paying Obedience to the Royal 
pleasure, or whether it would be more proper for me to 
proceed to the Camp where my presence seems quite 
necessary to have the American Troops a little disciplined 
and see provisions laid in, and proper preparations made for 
the Reception of those Regiments from England as well as 
those Companies that are raising in Virginia and'the Province. 
At Present there are at the Camp the three Independent 
companies and the Maryland Co. compleated to 110. The 
Virginians who are at present dispersed and quartered in 
several parts of that Province have orders to begin their 
march thither in Divisions to-morrow. Their number, 
Governor Dinwiddle informs me, when they come to join 
will be about 500, which number he proposes to increase 
to 700 or 800, but I know not whether this last letter from 
home will not make him decline it as there are thereby no 
Directions given how they are to be formed, or on what 
footing or Establishment they are to be raised. This Doubt 
and Ignorance makes us wait with impatience the Arrival 
of these Regiments and further and particular Instructions 
from His Majesty.' 

Another important measure engaged the governor's 
attention, which was that of conciliating the Indians. The 
congress that met in Albany had loaded the chiefs of the 
Six Nations with presents. Maryland alone had given 
£500 for the purpose, and a ' chain of friendship ' was sup- 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 33 

posed to have been formed. But at the very time that the 
chiefs were receiving presents it was reported that their 
tribes were devastating the outskirts of the provinces. 
Many of the inhabitants were killed, many taken captives, 
and a reign of terror existed on the frontier. Realising the 
importance of enhsting the Indians in the King of England's 
service, it was proposed by Governor Sharpe to send four 
belts of black wampum to the different Indian tribes, engaging 
them to join against the French, the belts to represent 
Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. Sharpe 
writes of these savage allies : ' They are and have been long 
wavering between the two Crowns. I believe they have no real 
regard either for the French or us, and I doubt not daily curse 
their ancestors for suffering either of us to so peaceably possess 
ourselves of Lands that they call their ancient Possessions.' 

Wampum played a very important part in dealings with 
the Indians. In the first place, it was the current money 
among them, and it also served as the material for necklaces, 
bracelets, and other ornaments. It was of two sorts, white 
and purple, the former being wrought from the shells of 
whelks, and the latter from the hard-shell clam, called 
' quahang ' in corruption of the Indian name. The shells or 
beads were woven with sinews of deer and strips of deerskin 
into strings called belts, often as wide as the palm of the 
hand and about two feet in length. These were given and 
received in treaties as seals of friendship, each belt being 
associated with a message or speech and delivered by the 
speaker or messenger. The belts also served as records, 
being wrought with figures composed of beads of different 
colours to assist the memory. 

The first man to arrive in advance of the English regiments 
was the Deputy Quartermaster-General, Sir John St. Clair, 
who writes at once to Sharpe as follows : 

c 



34 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

' Sir, — As His Majesty has appointed me Deputy Quarter- 
master-General to the Troops to be sent forthwith to Virginia 
and there to be levied in the different Provinces, I have 
taken the first opportunity of acquainting you with my 
arrival in Virginia, in order to make the necessary prepara- 
tions for the reception of the Two Regiments which were to 
embark at Cork a few days after my departure from England. 
I shall be glad to know the particulars with regard to what 
may have lately happened in the Province you command ; 
that I may regulate myself accordingly and have them 
ready to lay before General Braddock on his landing that 
no time may be lost. As I am an entire Stranger to the 
Ground in America, it is highly necessary I should get the 
best information of its situation that I can which I have 
no other way of doing but requesting of you to send me any 
Maps or Drawings you may have of your Province, or if you 
have any Imowledge of the ground at the back of our 
Settlements it will be of use likewise for me to have it. 
These are things that General Braddock will expect that I 
should have, that he may be exactly informed of the 
distance of Places for regulating the Marches of the Troops 
through the different Provinces, Being ordered by His 
Majesty to correspond with you I am glad of this opportunity 
of expressing the Respect with which I am your most 
obedient and most humble servant, 

' John St. Clair.' 

This letter reached Sharpe at WiUs Creek, or Fort Cumber- 
land as it was now called, after His Royal Highness of 
CuUoden fame. There Sir John St. Clair met him a few 
days afterwards. 

In the Maryland Gazette there is a despatch from the fort, 
dated 27th January 1755 : ' Yesterday arrived Sir John 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 35 

St. Clair, Bart., Colonel and Quarter-Master-General to all 
His Majesty's Troops intended for the service, and sets off 
to-morrow morning with Governor Sharpe. Your worthy 
Governor has been here about a week on this, his second 
visit to camp within two months, and we shall be sorry, 
very sorry if he should not cross the Alleghany mountains 
with us, in a station agreeable to himself and equal to his 
great merit. We daily expect to hear of the arrival of 
General Braddock with the troops.' 

A further notice in the Gazette says : ' His Excellency our 
Governor and Sir John St. Clair are returned from Wills 
Creek and gone to Williamsburg, and we hear they came 
down the Potowmack 200 miles in a canoe. The Quarter- 
master-General and the Governor were five days making the 
trip from the camp to Belhaven or Alexandria on the south 
Branch of the Potowmack.' An account of this expedition 
is given by Sharpe in the following letter to Braddock, 
which he left with Governor Dinwiddle to be delivered to 
the general on his arrival : 

• Williamsburg, Qth February 1755. 
' Sir, — At the time I was setting out for Wills Creek a 
letter came to hand from Sir Thomas Robinson, and having 
in compHance therewith given necessary Directions for pro- 
curing a quantity of fresh provisions and raising a proportion 
of men for compleating the British Regiments, I proceeded 
to the Fort to prepare materials and build Barracks there 
for the reception of the Troops under your Command that 
as little time might be lost as possible. Soon after my 
arrival I was favoured with a Letter from Sir John St. Clair 
who arrived there himself two Days after, being the 26th 
of January, when it was thought unnecessary to put the 
government to that Expense as the season would be suffi- 



36 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

ciently advanced to admit of an Encampment. The next day 
Sir John examined some Hunters that I had appointed to 
go with me and reconnoitre the Highlands between that and 
the French Fort, amongst whom he found but one person 
that imderstood or could give any tolerable Information 
about the matter. After this, and fixing upon a proper 
Magazine for Powder, we set off to explore Potowmack 
River, which proved from the number of Shoals and Falls 
to be of no service in transporting Artillery or other Baggage. 
In our Passage down Sir John contracted for all the Forage 
Flour and Calavances ^ on the Banks of that River. I hope 
soon to have the pleasure of seeing you myself, and assure 
you that nothing less than the meeting of the Assembly 
should have prevented my stay here till your arrival.' 

Braddock had no light task before him. The position of 
the French in America was extremely strong. They held 
the basins of the Ohio and the Mississippi on the south, the 
St. Lawrence and Great Lakes on the north. Their chain of 
forts was perfect. Among them the principal were Fort 
Prudhomme on the Upper Mississippi, Duquesne on the Ohio, 
Fort Venange on the Alleghany, Fort Leboeuf on French 
Creek, fifteen miles from Lake Erie, Presqu'ile on that lake, 
Fort Niagara at the entrance of Lake Ontario, Fort La 
Presentation ^ on its south shore, and at the lower end 
Fort Frontenac ^ or Cataraqui. Stretching eastward were 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point at the southern end of Lake 
Champlain, Beau Sejour between the Nova Scotia peninsula 
and the mainland, and Louisbourg in Cape Breton. Quebec 
was the principal base of operations, and Frontenac the 
most important depot of supply. 

^ Dried beans or pease. * Afterwards Ogdensburg. 

* Afterwards Kingston. 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 37 

On Greneral Braddock's arrival Colonel Sharpe imme- 
diately writes again to welcome him, in the politest of 
periods : 

' Annapolis, 21111 February 1755. 

' Sir, — By Captain Rosse, an officer on half pay, the 
gentleman who presents you this, I take the liberty to 
congratulate you on your safe arrival in America, which I 
have had the happiness and satisfaction to be informed of 
by a Letter that Sir John St. Clair did me the honour to 
write as soon as he was advised thereof. You will be pleased 
to think that it is not without great Reluctance I postpone 
for a few Days Journeying to Virginia to pay my Respects 
to you myself in person, but I hope you will excuse such my 
Tardiness when you learn that the Assembly of this Province 
are now met in Obedience to a Letter that Sir Thomas 
Robinson has honoured me with requiring Aids of this 
Province for His Majesty's Service, and particularly to pro- 
vide Provisions for the Troops that shall be under your 
Command in this part of His Majesty's Dominions.' 

He then gives the general his opinion of the situation of 
affairs in America, and continues : ' I am apprehensive 
that, unless the Communication between Canada and the 
Forts and Settlements that the French have made to the 
southward of Lake Erie can be cut off, it will not be an easy 
matter to secure our possession of them after the success 
of your Arms have recovered His Majesty's Dominions on 
which the French Troops have presumed to encroach. 
The Permission and Lycence that the Nation obtained some 
years ago to build a Fort in the Country of the Six Nations ^ 

^ ' In the seventeenth century the country east of the Mississippi from 
the line of Tennessee and the CaroUnas northward to Hudson Bay was 
occupied by two families or races of Indians differing radically from each 
other in their speech, and slightly in their physical characteristics. These 
were called by the French the Algonquin and Iroquois families. In the 



38 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

at Niagara, the pass or streight between Lakes Erie and 
Ontario, have now given them command over those people 
and an opportunity of monopohzing the Trade with the 
distant Nations, and has secured them a short and easy 
Communication between their Northern and Southern 
Colonies, as they are masters of Ontario Lake by means of 
their strong and well-garrisoned Fort thereon named 
Cataraqui. As the Nature of the adjoining country renders 
a Road to Niagara by Land impracticable, they have not 
hitherto given themselves much trouble to render that place 
more defensible than Nature has made it, imagining for the 
two reasons just mentioned that the English would never 
attempt its conquest, however strongly its vast importance 
might invite them thereto. 

' At present we have only a Trading House distinguished 
sometimes by the Appelation of Oswego Fort, on Ontario 
Lake, where perhaps 50 or 60 men from the New York 
Independent Cos. may now be posted ; but by what I can 
find the French may make themselves masters thereof at a 
very small Expense just when they please, unless some of 
the Indians should insist on its being a place of Neutrality 
as they did during the last war between the two Crowns.' 

Sharpe was at this time very busy laying in supplies, and 
writes to Dinwiddle that he has contracted for 200 beeves, 
to be delivered at the camp wherever the troops should 
happen to be, between Wills Creek and the Monongahela. 
On the 10th of March, General Braddock forwarded letters 

central portion of this vast country dwelt the Iroquois. Of these the so- 
called Five Nations — Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas 
— who occupied the central portion of New York, were considered the most 
formidable in numbers, the bravest in war, and the shrewdest in 
diplomacy. One Iroquois tribe, the Tuscuroras, lay quite apart from the 
rest in North Carolina, but, in 1715, this tribe migrated to New York and 
joined the famous league which was henceforth known as the Six Nations.' 
— Fiske, in Harper's Magazine. 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 39 

to the governors of the different colonies, desiring them to 
meet him at Annapohs on the 1st of April for consultation, 
and to settle a plan of operations. The troops were then 
encamped at Alexandria, and thither the general went on 
the 26th of March, accompanied by Governor Dinwiddie 
and Commander Keppel. Here Governor Sharpe paid them 
a visit on the 28th. On the 3rd of April, the general with 
a numerous suite arrived at Annapolis, as arranged, to meet 
the governors, but as De Lancey of New York, Shirley of ' 
Massachusetts, and Morris of Pennsylvania did not come 
in time, the meeting was postponed until the 14th, and the 
place was changed to Alexandria or Belhaven. 

The Maryland Gazette, Annapohs, announces on Thursday, 
3rd April 1755 : 

' This afternoon arrived in town General Braddock, the 
Honourable Governor Dinwiddie, Commodore Keppel, and 
a good many other gentlemen.' 

We may be sure, though their names are not chronicled, 
that many a gay and gallant young British officer came in 
the train, ready for what fun and frohc the good town 
afforded. If the general feasted, no doubt the staff flirted, 
much to the satisfaction of the fair damsels of Annapohs, 
who were, perhaps, a httle inclined to scorn the provincials. 
And to Government House must have come also the new 
aide-de-camp, Mr. Washington, who in that capacity, 
having been specially invited by General Braddock, had 
consented to go on the campaign. But Mr. Washington 
did not flirt, being, as Thackeray's veracious fiction informs 
us, earnestly engaged ' with Mr. Orme, A.D.C., and Roger 
Morris, A.D.C., and young WiUiam Shirley, in deep con- 
sultations as to roads and rivers and conveyances and 
sumpter horses and artillery trains. And at dinner the 
provincial militia Colonel has bits of bread laid at intervals 



40 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

on the table before him, and stations marked out on which 
he has his finger, and regarding which he is talking to his 
brother aides-de-camp, till a negro servant changing the 
courses, brushes off the Potomac with a napkin and sweeps 
up the Ohio with a spoon.' 

High festival was kept up for nearly a week waiting for 
the other governors who were late in arriving, thanks to the 
wretchedness of the roads. The society newspaper announces 
on 10th April 1755 : ' Monday morning last. His Excellency 
General Braddock, Hon. Gov. Dinwiddie, Commodore 
Keppel, Captain Orme, and William Shirley, Esq., set off 
from here for Alexandria. Governor De Lancey of New 
York, Governors Shirley and Morris have been expected here 
for some days.' 

In a letter to Lord Baltimore on 19th April 1755, Sharpe 
says : ' The three Governors, Shirley, De Lancey, and Morris 
came hither the 11th and 12th inst. This day senight I 
proceeded with them to Alexandria which place we left 
again Thursday morning, and they are now on their way 
returning to their respective governments. General Brad- 
dock departs from Alexandria to-day and I have promised 
to be with him next Tuesday evening at Frederickton, 
where I shall tarry till the 1st of May when all the troops 
will be in motion and he will proceed to Wills Creek and 
thence without any stop or delay for the Ohio.' 

A proclamation issued shortly after Governor Sharpe's 
arrival, and pubhshed in the Gazette, shows that Jacobite 
sentiments had not quite died out in the colony : 

'The Pretender. 

'By His Excellency Horatio Sharpe, Governor and Commander-in-Chief. 
Whereas I have received information by the Deposition of John Willis 
Sargeant in the Virginian Regiment and others, that a certain Gerard 
Jordan, Junior, of St. Mary's County, hath been guilty of obstructing the 
raising of His Majesty's Levies, drinking the Pretender's health and several 



BRADDOCK'S ARRIVAL 41 

other disloyal and illegal practises, and that a certain Joseph Broadway of 
the said county hath been aiding and assisting to the said Gerard Gordon 
therein, I oflFer a Reward of Twenty Pounds current money for apprehending 
and bringing to justice the said Gerard Gordon, and Ten Pounds for appre- 
hending and bringing to justice Joseph Broadway.' 

That there were still many unfortunate exiled Scots living in service or 
rather slavery in many parts of the province is proved by the numerous 
advertisements for runaway servants that appear in the Weekly Gazette. 
The following is a specimen : 

'Ran away from subscriber a Scotch Servant man named MacKemp 
about 26 years of age. Had on when he went away a short blue coat, an 
old red jacket with Lepels, a ruffled shirt, old Fustian Breeches, Blue 
worsted stockings, Pumps or shoes, a middling good castor Hat but has no 
lining in it, a Pair of Petticoat Trousers and a large Full Black wig and 
sundry other things packed up in a Pillow Case. Whoever secures the 
said servant so as his master may have him again shall have Ten Pistoles 
Reward. N.B. — All masters of vessels are forbid to take away the said 
servant at their peril.' 

Who these Scotch servants were is explained by advertisements of a few 
years earlier, such as 28th July 1 747 : ' A number of rebels imported on 
the ship Johnson into Maryland are here and are now upon sale.'' 

In September of the same year there is another paragraph : ' Two 
servants, rebels, lately imported, were found guilty of drinking the Pre- 
tender's health, together with some other treasonable expressions ; being 
incapable of paying fines were well whipped at the whipping post and were 
stood in the pillory.' Alas ! for the followers of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie.' 



CHAPTER IV 

braddock's defeat 

At that notable meeting in Alexandria, the question of 
revenue for the support of the army was discussed, and the 
general was much displeased that the joint fund for the 
benefit of the colonies had not been estabhshed. The 
governors explained to him their controversies with their 
assemblies, and Sharpe in particular told him that nothing 
could be accomplished without the direct intervention of 
the English Parhament. It is not recorded that he further 
explained to him that the money bills brought in by the 
Lower House were rejected over and over again by the 
Upper House and the governor, because the proposed mode 
of raising taxes was an encroachment upon the prerogative 
of the Lord Proprietary. The latter owned large tracts 
of land in the province, and the assembly contended that 
these lands should bear a just proportion of the cost incurred 
in maintaining their defence. It was the same with Penn- 
sylvania. The proprietaries would not allow their deputies 
to pass Acts for levying the necessary taxes, unless their vast 
estates were expressly exempt. Sharpe's loyalty to his chief 
compelled him to reject the grants that were saddled with con- 
ditions to which he knew Lord Baltimore would not consent. 
General Braddock wrote to Lord Halifax : ' I cannot 
sufficiently express my indignation against the provinces 
of Pennsylvania and Maryland, whose interests being alike 
concerned in this Expedition, and much more so than any 

42 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 43 

others on this continent, refuse to contribute anything 
toward the project.' 

The year before, Sharpe had proposed to Lord Baltimore 
a plan to counteract the perverseness of the Lower House. 
He considered that the short duration of the sessions — 
three years — prevented the better class entering on a 
canvass for seats in that assembly : ' Therefore,' he says, 
' there are too many instances of the lowest persons, at 
least, men of small fortunes, no soul, and very mean 
Capacities, appearing as Representatives of their respective 
counties. As there would be no want, I apprehend, of 
gentlemen to appear as Candidates if the Drudgery of 
Electioneering was to return less frequently, I submit to 
your Lordship's wisdom whether there may be any impro- 
priety — if a more agreeable choice of members should be 
made — in continuing the next Assembly for more years 
than has been lately usual or customary.' 

Horatio Sharpe had now been nearly two years in office, 
and found the task that he had undertaken no light one. 
As a colonial governor responsible to the English Crown, 
he had to uphold its rights. As the representative of Lord 
Baltimore he was forced on many occasions to wage battle 
against the House of Burgesses in their disputes as to the 
rights and prerogatives of his master. As the resident 
ruler of the province, he had in every way to protect its 
inhabitants and promote their interests. To steer a right 
course in this sea of difficulties demanded an uncommon 
share of abihty, tact, and firmness. It was no longer the 
Maryland of the earlier Calverts, whose paternal govern- 
ment had the welfare of the people at heart. The present 
lord looked on the province merely as a source of revenue, 
from which as much as possible was to be drawn. In 
return, the people were jealous of their rights and privileges 



44 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

as granted by their charter, and not incHned to yield one 
iota of these privileges in favour of their absent ruler. 
The House of Burgesses, too, looked with distrust on the 
Upper House as representing no interests but those of the 
proprietary, whose nominees they were. The proposition of 
elevating some of these burgesses to his Lordship's Council, 
in order to conciliate them, was not looked upon favourably 
by Governor Sharpe, as the following letter shows : 

Sharpe to Caecilius Calvert, 12th March 1755. 

' You are pleased to acquaint me that his Lordship 
desires Recommendation from me of Personages from the 
Lower House to be now and then preferred to be of his 
Council of State, and that his Lordship also desires the 
members of the Lower House or their Families may have 
share of his favours as thereby their virulency may be 
abated. I will assure you that I am persuaded, to coun- 
tenance the virulent in the Lower House, or withdraw 
them thence by giving them preferment, will be like behead- 
ing a Hydra where three serpents' heads are fabled to have 
immediately sprouted out instead of one.' 

The story of the ' virulent ' burgesses is continued in this 
letter from Sharpe to Calvert : 

'Annapolis, 10th April 1755. 
' After a month had been spent in sending messages from 
one House to the other, the Upper House put an end to 
the Dispute by rejecting the Bill absolutely, whereupon 
the Burgesses came to a Resolution not to grant a shilling 
by any other means than such as are similar to those 
proposed by the Bill which was passed last session. I have 
now prorogued them to July next, but cannot indeed 
entertain the least hopes of meeting them with greater 
success next time.' 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 45 

To return to military proceedings. The campaign 
decided on at Alexandria by General Braddock was that 
he in person should attack Fort Duquesne, while Governor 
Shirley should conduct an expedition against Niagara, and 
Colonel Johnson one against Crown Point. This latter 
officer, afterwards Sir William Johnson, was an Irishman, 
a nephew of Admiral Sir Peter Warren. He came out 
to America in 1734, at the age of nineteen, and settled in 
the Mohawk Valley, where he acquired an extraordinary 
ascendancy over the Six Nations Indians. 

Braddock hoped to be beyond the AUeghanies by the 
end of April, but he had not counted on the bad condition 
of the roads, and the difficulty of obtaining transport. On 
the 22nd of that month Sharpe joined him at Fort Frederick, 
Maryland, where a part of the army was quartered. It is 
to be noted that at this place and time two of the foremost 
figures of the century first met — George Washington and 
Benjamin Franklin. The latter was then the British post- 
master-general for the colonies, and had come to Fort 
Frederick to arrange plans for forwarding dispatches. 
Washington was there in his capacity as aide-de-camp. 
Hearing from General Braddock of the great scarcity 
of wagons, the adroit and resourceful Franklin undertook 
to furnish them from Pennsylvania. He soon obtained 
one hundred and fifty wagons with four horses each, and 
fifteen hundred saddle or pack horses. Complaints had 
been loud in Maryland against Braddock for having taken 
away a great many indented servants, as well as for having 
impressed wagons, horses, teamsters, carriages, and carriage 
horses. Sharpe writes to Secretary Calvert with reference to 
this arbitrary measure : 

' The General still finding the Regiments incomplete 
gave orders for recruiting Servants. This I in vain endeav- 



46 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

oured to persuade him ofif from, representing the mischief 
and Detriment that the Inhabitants must suffer from such 
a measure. The Servants immediately flocked in to enhst, 
convicts not excepted, and their masters made innumerable 
applications to me for Relief which I was sorry to be unable 
to grant. Here I found myself in difficult circumstances. 
Many of the Peoples Cases really called for Pity and Redress, 
as the Planters' Fortunes here consist in the number of 
their Servants who are purchased at high rates much as 
the Estates of an English Farmer do in the Multitude of 
Cattle.' 

It was, indeed, a tremendous undertaking to advance 
through forests and over steep mountains with the amount 
of equipage that the English general thought he required, 
besides guns, ammunition, and food supplies. At the end 
of May, Sir John St. Clair with six hundred men was sent 
forward to clear a road to the Little Meadows, about 
twenty-five miles distant from Fort Cumberland. It was 
the middle of June before Braddock was fairly on his way 
through that gloomy pine forest, prophetically, in his case, 
named the ' Shades of Death.' 

Before leaving Fort Cumberland Braddock wrote to 
Sharpe : 

' As I propose soon to begin my march to Fort Du Quesne 
I am desirous of adjusting every future contingency in such 
a manner as to avoid any mistake or misunderstanding. 
If I take the Fort in its present condition I shall make 
additions to it as I shall judge necessary, and shall leave 
the Guns, Ammunition, and Stores belonging to the Fort 
with a garrison of Virginian and Maryland forces. But 
should they, as I have reason to apprehend, abandon and 
destroy the Fortification with its guns, I will repair and 
construct some place of defence and leave a garrison as 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 47 

before. But as to the Artillery, Ammunition, Stores, 
Provisions, etc., they must be immediately supplied by 
the Governments of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
separately or jointly, according to the agreement made at 
Alexandria. 

' I must beg that you will have all these things in readiness 
to be forwarded to the Fort escorted by your MiHtia. A 
proper quantity of Flower and Meal should be preparing 
as these in any situation must be required, and if care is 
not taken to send these convoys the men must starve, and 
His Majesty's Arms be dishonoured, and his expenses and 
trouble which his regard for the colonies have engaged 
him in rendered useless. 

' As I find it impracticable to take my Chariot with me,i 
if you will send for it and the Harness for the six Horses, 
I shall be much obhged to you and you will make use of 
it till I want it. I shall be still more so as I am sure it 
will be less damaged by good usage than by lying still. 
It will also save you the trouble of sending for another to 
England, as it shall be at your service at your own 
price when I leave this part of the world. Let your ser- 
vants take care of the harness and have it oiled if you 
don't use it. I shall leave directions to Col. Innes to 
dehver Chariot, Harness, spare axle-trees and pole to 
your order.' 

This incident of the chariot shows how signally Braddock 
had miscalculated the natural difficulties of such a campaign. 
He had evidently hoped to proceed in pompous state into 
the heart of the enemy's country, trusting that the walls 
of Fort Duquesne would fall at the crack of his postilhon's 
whip, or, at least, at the roll of the British drum. 

Frankhn recounts in his autobiography his last conversa- 

1 Sharpe had sold this chariot to the general. 



48 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

tion with the ill-fated general. ' After taking Fort Du- 
quesne,' Braddock said, 'I am to proceed to Niagara, 
and having taken that to Frontenac if the season will allow 
time, and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly detain 
me above three or four days, and then I see nothing that 
can obstruct my march to Niagara.' Franklin ventured 
to remark that the danger to be apprehended was from 
ambuscades of Indians and from flank attacks on the long 
slender line which the army must make in their march 
by a very narrow road. Braddock smiled at Franklin's 
ignorance, and said : ' These savages may indeed be a for- 
midable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon 
the King's regular and disciplined troops. Sir, it is impos- 
sible they should make any impression.' 

Sharpe answers Braddock's letter from Annapolis, 28th 
May 1755 : 

' Your favour of the 22nd inst. I have just now received, 
and beg leave to assure you that no Endeavours shall be 
wanting to engage the Assembly in some sort to perform 
their Duty by granting Supplies for the purposes you 
mention. Did I find myself impowered I would not lose 
a moment to lay in a quantity of Provision, but as the 
power of granting Money for such uses rests in the Repre- 
sentatives of the people in Assembly, I can promise nothing 
more as to that matter than that I will attempt to make 
them sensible of the necessity of granting such Supplies 
from the fatal consequences that may attend their 
Neglect. 

' I shall take care to get the Chariot hither and secure 
it till you may have occasion for it again, or whenever 
you please shall be ready to receive it at your own 
price.' 

A warning as to the movements of the enemy came to 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 49 

Sharpe from John Bradstreet, adjutant-general to Governor 
Shirley, dated Oswego, 29th May 1755 : 

' I think it my Duty to give you the Earliest notice that 
on my way to this place Col. Johnston and I examined a 
Frenchman who deserted from Canada with his wife who 
informed us that the French had actually sent nine hundred 
and fifty men to the Ohio in four detachments, the last of 
which he saw at Cataraqui, and they passed this place 
about the time he expected and that on my Arrival here, 
the 27th inst., I made it part of my business to Examine 
into the truth of it from Indians who are constantly coming 
here from all quarters who agree intirely with his account, 
since which the movement and Activity of the French 
make it still more necessary I should lose no time in letting 
you know what has passed. That on the 25th of this 
month twelve Bateaux passed this place with Men and 
Provisions, the 27th Eleven, and this day Eleven, which 
latter had on board nine small cannon and they carry one 
with the other ten men, and I am well informed there are 
more men preparing to set out from Cataraqui and others 
daily expected from Montreal, and the French are using all 
their power and Artifice to get as many Indians with them 
to oppose General Braddock as they possibly can, and openly 
declare to the Indians they will send the whole force of 
Canada, but they wiU carry their Point. I must also 
inform you there are many Indians here and Numbers 
are daily expected, and they appear to be very attentive 
to the proceedings between the French and us, and that I 
conceive there never was a time when the giving Provisions 
to such as are in real want, and well chosen presents to 
the Principal People would do more good than at this 
time.' 

A letter to Sharpe from Secretary Calvert in his customary 



50 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

chaotic style comments on affairs in general in America 
and England : 

* London, I2th June 1755. 

' I have yours of the 10th April by way of Philadelphia. 
It concerns his Lord to understand the Lower House have 
shewn no regard to his Instructions for Amendment of the 
Tabacco Law. Obstinacy against the Superior Lord well 
advised and with Candour layd before a Legislative Body 
to Rectify a real mistake, the Non Comphance Endangers 
the Welfare of a People. Alike is his concern to know 
their unwillingness to grant aid in support and Defence 
Ag't the Ennemy of their King and Country and their Offers 
of wrongs to his Rights without any regard or consideration 
to him. 

' By yrs. since General Braddock's arrival in America 
you have not wanted Company at Annapolis ; it seems to 
a-been a general Rendez-vous. It gives my Lord pleasure as 
it Lusters Honour to the Province as weU as Profitt to the 
Metropolis. Alls Peaceable here. No account of Admirel 
Boscawen since his departure westward.' 

Sharpe now sends Governor Dinwiddle the latest news 

from the camp : 

'Annapolis, 22nd June 1755. 

' I received a letter this morning from General Braddock 
dated 17th inst. at the Little Meadows between 20 and 30 
miles from Fort Cumberland. Mr. Shirley tells me they 
were got so far with much Difficulty and Distress, but were 
preparing to go on with more speed by lessening the number 
of waggons to those necessary for the Artillery, and reducing 
the Provision, etc., to such a quantity as may be carried 
on Horses. A detachment of a thousand of the best Troops 
were to go forward to the great crossing, and the Rest were 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 51 

to follow more slowly with the remaining waggons and 
Provisions.' 

Some English gossip is given too, in this letter, for a 
gentleman had arrived in Annapolis that day just seven 
weeks from London, and the news was that His Majesty 
had gone to Germany, and it was reported that he was 
about to leave England for good ; that intelligence had just 
been received of twenty-two ships having sailed from France 
towards the western coast of Ireland, and that Admirals 
Hawke and Boscawen had sailed after them with twelve 
ships ; and that the French had embarked a very consider- 
able number of troops with a design of making a descent 
on that kingdom. Altogether, times were exciting on both 
sides of the Atlantic. 

A letter from Governor Shirley brings word that a French 
fleet had been seen on the 5th of June about forty leagues 
from Louisbourg, also that the assembly of Massachusetts 
had brought in a Bill laying an embargo on all vessels laden 
with provisions, fish only excepted, or with warhke stores 
for the space of one month ; provided, nevertheless, that 
the governor or commander-in-chief might permit a supply 
to be sent to the army and navy with necessary provisions 
within that time. Governor Shirley goes on to say that he 
hears the French at Louisbourg, as well as in Canada, are 
but scantily supphed with provisions, and he hopes the 
other governments will act in concert with him and continue 
the embargo for three months instead of one. 

News from Braddock was scarce and long in coming. 
The Annapolis Gazette of the 26th June has : ' We are just 
informed that His Excellency General Braddock with the 
force under his command have passed the mountains and 
expected to reach the Great Meadows about the middle 



52 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

of the week. May the great God of Hosts crown their 
Enterprize with success.' 

On the 28th, Sharpe writes to Lord Baltimore that he 
had that morning received letters from the troops who 
were on the 22nd inst. about forty miles westward from 
Fort Cumberland, and that it had taken them twelve days 
to accomplish this distance owing to the difficulty of getting 
the wagons and heavy baggage over the mountains. 

A letter from Sharpe to Calvert gives rather a dismal 
picture of the state of the province : 

• Annapolis, 5^/^ July 1755. 

' I have received advice that Fifteen more of our distant 
Inhabitants are killed or carried away by Indians, a party 
of whom have been seen not far from Conegogeek, which 
is nearly a hundred miles within our settlements. The 
Lower House still persevere in their obstinacy and I believe 
will never recede from what they are contending for tlio' 
half the Province should be depopulated. They have not 
yet addressed me to be prorogued, but I expect they will 
to-morrow morning, and it will be absolutely to no purpose 
ever to meet them again. 

' I have not since heard from the General, but I am not 
without apprehension that he will be obliged to desert the 
Fort when he has taken it, for want of Provisions which 
he cannot now expect from these Colonies ; in that case 
I fear the French will again take possession of that Country 
and then, let the General's success be ever so great, we shall 
be in as bad if not a worse situation than we were last 
winter.' 

Sharpe writes to Calvert on the 9th of July 1755 : 
' As I am despatching an Express to Virginia I request 
the favour of Governor Dinwiddie to put this on Board 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 53 

the first Ship that sails, to acquaint you that finding the 
Burgesses determined to do nothing either for His Majesty's 
Service or their own protection unless the points for which 
they have been contending were given up to them, I 
prorogued our Assembly yesterday evening after they had 
twice requested me to be dismissed. 

' We are advised from the Northern Governt. that the 
French Fleet consisting of Six Men of War and 9 large 
Transports with Four Thousand Land Forces on board are 
in the Harbour of Louisbourg and that Admiral Boscawen 
lies before that Town with 13 Capital Ships, 

' Governor Dinwiddle also informs me that two parties 
of Indians and French, amounting together to about 130 
Men, have been seen in the Frontier Counties where they 
have destroyed 9 Families and plundered and burnt their 
Habitations. From our receiving no letters from the 
General since those dated 22nd June, we apprehend that 
those Indian Parties have cut off the Communication 
between him and Fort Cumberland and taken all the 
Carriers. 

' I am about to depart for Frederickton to try what can 
be done with the Militia for the Defense and Protection of 
our distant Inhabitants. I propose to draft a Company 
of 60 or 80 from the Militia by Lot and oblige them to keep 
ranging on the Frontiers for a few months without any 
pay. Provisions they must impress and take in where 
it can be found, and if money be ever granted the People 
from whom it is taken must be satisfied for the same. 
Unless some such step be taken the people will not be 
persuaded to stay on their Plantations, being ah'eady struck 
with an universal Panick. We hope very shortly to hear 
from General Braddock at Fort Du Quesne, and from 
Oswego on Ontario Lake, where Gov. Shirley with the 



54 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Troops under his Command must, we expect, be by this 
time arrived.' 

Sharpe, in a letter to Braddock of the 9th of July 1755, 
informs him that the application for money and supplies 
had been refused by the assembly, and refers to the expedi- 
tion against Louisbourg, saying : ' There is great reason to 
believe that they are not extremely well supplied with 
Provisions on account of the Embargo that was laid in 
Ireland ; if so, they must soon be greatly distressed, as 
some late Laws that have been made by these several 
Provinces have prevented the Exportation of any Supplies 
hence to Cape Breton.' 

Sharpe writes to Captain Orme, aide-de-camp to Braddock, 
9th July 1755 : 

' Yours of the 22nd ult. was the last letter that has been 
received from the camp ; we shall begin to be in daily 
Expectation of receiving better news from you than we 
can write hence, which you may be assured will much 
rejoice us.' 

One more letter from the front arrived in Annapolis from 
a yoimg officer attached to the rearguard under Colonel 
Dunbar. It was dated the 21st of June near the Great 
Meadows. He feared the sport would be all over before 
their division could reach the general. The horses were so 
weak from want of food and rest that it would take the 
whole rear, he thought, twenty-five days to join the front. 

On the 13th, Sharpe writes to Calvert : ' A few days since 
we were informed by letter from the Camp that General 
Braddock with the troops under his command was the 
1st inst. within 25 miles of Fort Du Quesne, which place 
he hoped to see in four or five days. They had lost 
only four men on their march from Fort Cumberland, 
three of whom were scalped by Indians, and one carried 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 55 

off alive. No enemy had been seen by them for three 
days,' 

On the same day Sharpe writes to his brother in England, 
and gives the news of the capture of Fort Beau Sejour ^ on 
the 16th of June 1755, by the Massachusetts troops under 
Monckton and Winslow, and also of the successes of the 
English fleet under Admiral Boscawen off Louisbourg, 
when Captain Spry of the Fougueux brought in to Halifax 
the Alcide of sixty-four guns, and the Lys, a seventy-four- 
gun ship. When news of the capture of the Alcide reached 
Paris, King Louis xv. withdrew his ambassador from 
London. 

It was on the 8th of July that the advanced body had 
reached the Monongahela, a few miles from the fort, the 
goal of their hopes. The eastern side of the river was too 
rocky for progress, so the general resolved to cross and find 
a smoother path, and ford the river again lower down. 
Already, as was known afterwards, their approach had been 
signalled at Fort Duquesne, and Contrecceur even was 
contemplating retreat, when Beaujeu proposed to lead 
a party of Canadian marksmen and Indians to waylay 
the Enghsh on their march. The bold Frenchman met his 
death at the fii'st volley, but the ambuscade he had led did 
the work he had plaimed. 

A short note, dated Fort Cumberland, 11th July 1755, 
and addressed ' To all whom this may concern,' brings the 
first tidings of disaster, although even this does not reach 
Annapohs until the 16th of July. It was written by James 
Innes, a native of Scotland and a citizen of New Hanover, 
North Carohna, who commanded the North Carolina contin- 

1 Beau Sejour was built by the French in 1750, on the Acadian isthmus, 
at the head of the Bay of Fundy. Forts Gaspereau and Pont a Buot 
capitulated at the same time. 



56 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

gent in 1754, and the garrison at Fort Cumberland in 1755. 
It reads : ' I have this moment received the melancholy 
account of the Defeat of our Troops, the General killed and 
numbers of our Officers, our whole Artillery taken. In 
short the account I have is so very bad that, as please 
God I intend to make a stand here, it is highly necessary 
to raise the militia everywhere to defend the Frontier.' 

Innes writes to the governor of Virginia a little more 
fully on 13th July : 

' This Dismal news brought down here on the Eleventh 
obligd me to send it as it came to my Ears from Waggoners 
and such people. I was surprised not to have some mes- 
senger sent me from the Armie with accounts that I might 
depend on, which obliged me to send a Boy on purpose 
next day, and gave him one of the best and freshest horses 
I hade here and this moment he is returned with much the 
same accounts. His Horse giving out he could proceed no 
forrder then the Little Meadows 25 miles from this. AU 
the Accounts I gett from him is relaited by the Waggoners 
and much to the same purport as at first, that the General 
and many Officers are killed and half of our soldiers, with 
most of the Artillery taken by the Indians. But not in 
this time having any accounts from the Army gives me hope 
things cannot be so very bad with us. However I think it 
is hily requisite and full time that the militia in the three 
neighbouring Provinces should be immediately drafted and 
sent out to their assistance. Horses and waggons will be 
absolutely needfull. Three or Four Thousand Men will 
carry Victory before us when five times the number in a 
little time hence will not do. All which I most humbly 
submit. You may depend as soon as I receive aney accounts 
I shall forward them. You may likewise Depend, Pleas 
God I live, I will do my best to maintain this post. I am 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 57 

this instant getting another Person and another horse 
to send out to the Armie with directions not to return 
without some Accounts.' 

The people in Annapohs would not believe the rumours 
that came. On 17th July 1755 the Gazette says : ' Upon 
the arrival of the agreeable news of the gallant and victorious 
New England Englishmen taking the three French Forts 
at the Eastward, and the brave Admiral Boscawen's taking 
their two men-of-war, a general joy was upon every true 
subject's countenance. But now we have been filled with 
concern and a melancholy diffused on some reports which 
have been brought to town of General Braddock's army 
having met with a severe blow from the French and Indians, 
but the reports are so vague and uncertain that we cannot 
insert them, as they clash and are contradictory and leave 
room to hope that His Excellency may yet be well, and 
instead of being conquered be the Conqueror, for knowing 
truly the Event we must submit to Time, and next week 
our Readers may expect a further account.' 

Preparations had been made in Philadelphia and Anna- 
polis for celebrating Braddock's victory. No one dreamed 
of defeat for the British regulars. How the rash general 
and his army fared is best told in Lieutenant Robert Orme's 
letter to Governor Sharpe : 

' Fort Cumberland, \^th July 1755. 

' I am so extremely ill in bed with the wound I have 
received in my thigh that I am under the necessity of 
employing my friend Captain Dobson to write for me. I 
conclude you have had some account of the action near the 
Banks of the Monongahela. As the reports spread are very 
imperfect what you have heard must consequently be so 
too. You should have had more early accounts of it, but 



58 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

every officer whose business it was to have informed you 
was either killed or wounded and our distressful situation 
put it out of our powers to attend to it so much as we 
would otherwise have done, 

' The 9th inst. we passed and repassed the Monongahela 
by advancing first a party of 300 men which was immediately 
followed by another of 200, the General with the Column 
of Artillery Baggage and the main Body of the Army passed 
the river the last time about one o'clock. As soon as the 
whole had got on the Fort side of the Monongahela we heard 
a very heavy and quick fire on our front. We immediately 
advanced in order to sustain them, but the Detachment 
of the 200 and 300 men gave way and fell back upon us, 
which caused such confusion and struck so great a Pannick 
among our men that afterwards no military expedient could 
be made use of that had any effect on them ; the men were 
so extremely deaf to the exhortations of the General and 
the officers that they fired away in the most irregular 
manner all their ammunition and then ran off leaving to 
the Ennemy the Artillery, Ammunition, Provisions and 
Baggage, nor could they be persuaded to stop till they got 
as far as Gust Plantation, many of them proceeding even 
as far as Col. Dunbar's party, who lay six miles on this side. 
The officers were absolutely sacrificed by their unparalleled 
good behaviour, advancing sometimes in body and some- 
times separately hoping by such example to engage the 
soldiers to follow them but to no purpose. The General 
had five horses shot under him and at last received a wound 
through his right arm into his Lungs, of which he died the 
13th inst. Poor Shirley was shot through the head, Capt. 
Morris wounded, Mr. Washington had two horses shot under 
him and his cloaths shot through in several places, behaving 
the whole time with the greatest courage and resolution. 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 59 

Sir Peter Halkett was killed upon the spot, Col. Barton 
and Sir John St. Clair wounded, and Enclosed I have sent 
you a list of the killed and wounded according to as exact 
an account as we are yet able to get. 

' As our number of horses was so much reduced and those 
extremely weak and many carriages being wanted for the 
wounded men, occasioned our destroying the ammunition 
and superfluous part of the provisions left in Col. Dunbar's 
Convoy to prevent its falling into the hands of the Ennemy. 
As the whole of the Artillery is lost, and the troops are so 
extremely weakened by Deaths, wounds and sickness, it 
was judged impossible to make any further attempts, there- 
fore Col. Dunbar is returning to Fort Cumberland with 
everything he is able to bring with him. As the General's 
Chariot is to be disposed of I should be glad to know if 
you would have it again. It has been at this place since 
our departure from hence. If you propose taking of it 
again I will send it to you and bring the General's Coach 
back. Capt. Morris' compliments attend you with Mr. 
Washington's.' 

Parkman states that Captain Robert Orme, the writer 
of this letter, was the author of a copious and excellent 
journal of the expedition, which is now in the British 
Museum. His portrait, painted at full length by Sir 
Joshua Reynolds, hangs in the National Gallery at London. 
He stands by his horse, a gallant young figure, with a face 
pale, yet rather handsome, booted to the knee, his scarlet 
coat, ample waistcoat, and small three-cornered hat all 
heavy with gold lace. 

Too anxious to wait inactive, Governor Sharpe set off 
for Fort Cumberland, with his secretary, John Ridout, 
Lieutenant Gold, and Ensign Russell of His Majesty's 



60 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

forces, and a band of volunteers. The Maryland Gazette 
of Thursday, 24th July, has the following : ' Tuesday 
morning last His Excellency our Governor set out from 
hence for Frederick County and lodged that night at Colonel 
Tasker's seat at Bellair. We hear His Excellency intends 
for Fort Cumberland.' 

At every step Horatio Sharpe took, the reports of the 
British disaster were confirmed. Those two famous regi- 
ments which had fought in the Scottish and continental 
wars had fled from an enemy almost unseen, and their 
boasted discipline and valour had not enabled them to 
face a band of savages and a few French infantry. 

When the Governor reached Fort Cumberland, all was 
alarm and confusion. The inhabitants of the surrounding 
country had rushed to its walls for safety. Colonel Dunbar 
arrived there on 22nd July, with four hundred wounded 
men in the ranks. To add to the panic he announced, in 
spite of Sharpe's remonstrances, that he intended to abandon 
everything and retreat with the remnant of his troops 
into winter quarters at Philadelphia. The losses had been 
enormous, and the troops who remained were demoralised. 
Of the 1460 ofificers and privates who went into the engage- 
ment, 456 were killed or wounded. Of 89 commissioned 
officers, 63 were killed or wounded. Everything had been 
abandoned : artillery, small arms, ammunition, wagons, 
provisions, baggage and stores, the military chest with 
£25,000 in specie, and the general's cabinet with his instruc- 
tions and private papers. Worse than the loss of all this 
was the loss of British prestige. The French marksmen 
and the Indian savages had proved more than a match for 
King George's troops. The story was a sad one to hear. 
For three hours the slaughter had gone on. The officers' 
devotion in trying to rally their men was shown by their 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 61 

losses. Nearly all were killed or wounded. Not a staff 
officer was left, except George Washington, who bore a 
charmed life that day, and with his Virginians had done 
much to cover the retreat. In the hst of casualties sent 
to Sharpe and published in the Maryland Gazette of 31st 
July, it is curious to find the names of some who twenty 
years afterwards fought on different sides in another contest 
little dreamed of then. Among them were Thomas Gage, 
who was commander-in-chief of the British forces in 1775, 
and Horatio Gates, who, in 1777, received at Saratoga the 
surrender of Burgoyne. 

Sharpe, in writing to England an account of the melan- 
choly affair, says : ' As soon as the general was brought 
back to Colonel Dunbar's camp he gave orders for the 
Destruction of all the Ammunition and Artillery that 
Dunbar had with him except two six-pounders. In pur- 
suance of this order near 150 waggons were burnt, the 
Powder casks stored in a spring, the Cohorns broke or 
buried and the shells bursted. The provisions were scattered 
abroad on the ground or the Barrels broke and thrown into 
the water. Soon after this was executed the General died 
and was buried privately on the Road. 

' It was as surprizing a Defeat I think as has been heard 
of, for 'tis supposed that the Indians that day opposed 
were not less than 1500 or 2000, and yet none of the Enghsh 
that were engaged will say they saw an hundred, and many 
of the officers who were in the Heat of the Action the 
whole time will not assert that they saw one enemy. It 
seems the French had most advantageously posted them- 
selves behind the large Trees that grew on the Eminences 
or Hills that were on the Right Flank and in the front of 
our Troops. Thence they fired irregularly on the English 
beneath them, who being in a compact body became a fair 



62 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

mark to their Ennemis, against whom they fired in Platoons 
almost as fast as they could load without doing as I conceive 
any great execution. The men had not been used to nor 
had any idea of this kind of fighting, which dispirited them 
and soon threw them into, confusion. Colonel Dunbar, 
with the remains of the Two Regiments and the three 
Independent companies is on his march to Philadelphia. 
The loss of the greatest Part of the Artillery ammunition 
and camp Equipage which cannot be replaced but from 
Europe, the Death of the General and the Loss of all his 
papers and Instructions, together with the want of officers 
and Terror of the men that survive have determined Colonel 
Dunbar against attempting anything till he can receive 
Instructions and Directions for his Conduct.' 

The control of affairs on the frontier was now left to 
Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe, who did what he could to 
allay the panic that prevailed. After leaving the provincial 
troops under Colonel Innes to garrison Fort Cumberland, 
and promising to build three new forts to protect the terror- 
stricken inhabitants of the district, the governor returned 
to Annapohs. The Gazette announces on the 7th of August : 
' This day His- Excellency our Governor returned in good 
Health.' 

All his energy was now needed, for Braddock's defeat 
was bearing fruit already. The enemy laid waste the 
borders of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and, to 
add to the general alarm, the Shawanese and Delaware 
Indians, who had hitherto remained faithful to the British, 
went over to the French side. People were now aroused 
to the necessity of keeping up a military force, and sub- 
scriptions were started all over the country to defray the 
expenses of the volunteer company which Colonel Sharpe 
had raised on his way to the fort. Annapolis alone furnished 



BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT 63 

about a thousand pounds, Ou the 18th of October the 
governor called out the militia of the province. He was of 
the opinion that in case of another attack against Fort 
Duquesne, there ought to be at least one thousand woods- 
men or hunters, who were marksmen and used to rifles, 
to precede the army and engage the Indians in their own 
way. 

Sharpe had written to Sir Thomas Robinson in July that 
he believed in the three colonies, Maryland, Virginia, and 
Pennsylvania, there were eighty thousand men fit to bear 
arms, yet on account of not having a good militia law, 
such as was in force in the eastern colonies, these men had 
no notion of arms or military duty. Soon, however, in 
consequence of the French and Indian war, the colonies 
became training schools for military service, with what 
result was seen twenty years after. 



CHAPTER V 

SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 

By Braddock's death the position of commander-in-chief 
devolved on Lieutenant-Governor Shirley. William Shirley, 
the governor of Massachusetts from 1741 to 1746, and 
again from 1753 to 1756, was an Enghshman by birth. 
He was born at Preston, Sussex, in 1693, was by profession 
a lawyer, and came out to America in 1731. His talents 
and energy soon brought him into a prominent position in 
the colony, and throughout his career he was a strenuous 
defender of British interests in America. He jealously 
watched the encroachments of the French in Acadia, and 
when, in 1744, they took and destroyed the little fishing 
village of Canseau on the strait of that name, he suggested 
to the English Government the bold plan of capturing the 
fortress of Louisbourg, Cape Breton. He undertook, more- 
over, to carry out the enterprise by the aid of colonial 
volunteers, only stipulating that the English fleet should 
support the attack. 

The expedition was entered into almost as a crusade 
by the enthusiastic New Englanders, who had recently 
been roused to religious fervour by the preaching of 
Whitefield. The motto suggested by the revivahst for 
their flag was Nil Desperandum Christo duce. About four 
thousand men were raised from among the farmers, 
mechanics, shopkeepers, and fishermen of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. These 
were placed by Shirley under the command of William 

64 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 65 

PeppereU, a good honest bourgeois merchant of Kittery, 
Maine, whose only quahfications for the post were popu- 
larity, unfaihng good-temper, and religious zeal. Of mihtary 
experience he had none. Indeed, Shirley, who had great 
confidence in himself, wrote to the Duke of Newcastle that 
' though the officers had no experience, and the men no 
discipline, he would take care to provide against these 
defects.' Under Pepperell's leadership these amateur 
soldiers performed unheard-of feats, and the expedition 
was a complete success. Commodore Warren arrived in 
time to blockade the harbour, and a French man-of-war, the 
Vigilante, bringing food and munitions for the beleaguered 
and mutinous garrison, fell into his hands. On land the 
grand battery of thirty cannon was taken by PeppereU, 
giving him the heavy guns he required for the siege, and 
after a bombardment of several weeks, Louisbourg, the 
strongest fortress in America, on which the French king 
had expended millions, capitulated on 17th June 1745. 
For this service PeppereU was made a baronet, and Warren 
an admiral. 1 

When Shirley became commander-in-chief of His Majesty's 
forces in America, he entered on the duties of the position 
with fervour, for he dearly loved power, and imagined that 
he excelled in military strategy. It was not his fault that 
Canada had not been attacked ten years before, for after 
the success of Louisbourg he wrote urging the Duke of 
Newcastle to send out troops for the capture of Canada, 
and undertaking to raise twenty thousand men himself in 
the colonies. Newcastle promised to send eight battalions 
with General St. Clair, and Shirley with his usual energ}^ 
began his preparations for the campaign. In vain he 

^ By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, much to the indignation of 
the victorious New Englanders, the fortress was restored to the French. 



66 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

waited for the coming of the promised British troops ; 
Newcastle, the notoriously incompetent prime minister, 
changed his mind, and although the eight battahons had 
actually embarked, they were ordered on shore again, and 
afterwards sent on a futile expedition against the coast of 
France. Shirley was left to his own resources. 

It may easily be imagined how zealously he now set to 
work against his old time enemies, rendered stiU more his 
foes by the death of his son at Monongahela. 

With a courtesy that was characteristic he writes as 
follows to Sharpe, who had ambitions perhaps also himself 
as to the command : 

' Camp at Oswego, 9th September 1755. 
' As it may be acceptable to your Honour to know the 
situation of the Service which is under my immediate care, 
I transmit you the following account. The last division 
of the Forces under my command were twenty-six days 
upon their march from Schenectady to this place, where 
they did not arrive until the 2nd inst. The Troops are 
much reduced by Desertion and Sickness and absence of 
Detachments upon Parties and Command, that by a Field 
Return it appears that the number of men in the Three 
Regiments and Independent Cos. fit for Duty upon the 
Spot don't amount to 1400, out of which we are obliged to 
keep a 100 at work on a New Fort, and if the body of the forces 
moves from this place must leave 300 at least for the defence 
of it, so that not 1000 men will remain for other service. 

' However, if I am not disappointed of Supplies of Pro- 
visions which I hourly expect ; I am encouraged upon the 
Intelligence I have gained since my arrival here, that with 
our Naval Force, and the Assistance of the Indians whom 
I have picked up in my passage thro' the Country of the 
five Nations, and the Albany men whom I hired to go with 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 67 

me as a Scouting Party of Guards, both which may amount 
to 140 men, I say, I am encouraged, sir, to hope that we 
may proceed upon action in a very few days, and that a 
foundation will be laid this year for such a Campaign the 
next as I flatter myself, provided the Colonies shall exert 
a proper spirit, may secure all points in dispute between 
us and the French. 

' As I think a very early Campaign the next year neces- 
sary, I have sent orders to Col. Dunbar, the Commanding 
Officer of H.M. Two British Regiments, and two Independent 
Cos. of New York, to march those Troops directly to Albany, 
where I design their winter Quarters shall be.' 

Sharpe, who keeps his brother in England well informed 
of all that takes place in the Colonies, writes to him 
15th September 1755 : 

'In my letter of the 11th August I informed you that 
Col. Dunbar was on his march from Fort Cumberland to 
Philadelphia. By letters thence I learn that he arrived 
at that Place a fortnight ago, and that as soon as he 
could get some necessary cloathes made for the men who 
were in great want thereof and a little Field Equipage 
he would obey General Shirley's orders by proceeding to 
N. York and making the best of his way to Oswego. As 
that place is not much less than 400 miles distant from 
N. York I am afraid he will not be able to reach it and 
reuiforce Genl. Shirley time enough to enable him to make 
a successful attempt on Niagara this year, and I believe 
that without his Assistance that Enterprise will not be 
undertaken ; indeed I think that if the General can 
secure himself, construct a strong place of Defence on the 
shore, and by the Vessels that are building secure the 
Lake Ontario this year he will do good service, and be 



68 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

in a fair way of making a Conquest early in the Spring. 
The Fort and Pass of Niagara is in my opinion the most 
desirable place in North America/ 

In a letter of the same date to Calvert, Sharpe tells 
him that a deserter has brought him the information that 
the French have no less than two thousand men at Fort 
Duquesne, under the command of one Count Brodie, a 
Scotsman. 

A gleam of comfort came this month for the English 
from Lake George, where the French under General Dieskau 
were defeated on the 8tli of September. Major-General 
Johnson, as had been arranged by Braddock at Alexandria, 
was to attack Crown Point on Lake Champlain during the 
summer, and in August he proceeded in that direction with his 
little army of provincials, mostly hunters and f armers,together 
with a party of Mohawks, in all about three thousand men. 
Johnson marched from Albany with his motley crowd, 
only one company being in uniform, and on the way stopped 
at Fort Lyman, about fourteen miles south of the lake then 
known as St. Sacrement. Leaving at the fort a detachment 
of about five hundred men, he leisurely made his way with 
the remainder to the shore of that beautiful lake which he 
renamed in honour of His Majesty, Lake George. 

In the meantime, Baron Dieskau, who had arrived in the 
spring from France with Vaudreuil, the new governor of 
Canada, was ordered to march with a force of three thousand 
five hundred men, consisting of French regulars, Canadians, 
and Indians, to defend Crown Point from the expected 
attack. When he arrived there he found from his scouts 
that the English were in great force near Lake St. Sacre- 
ment. Dieskau wanted to proceed first against the lately 
built Fort Lyman, which he heard they were strengthening, 
but his unruly Indians refused, so he determined to advance 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 69 

at once upon the camp at Lake George. Here all remained 
serene until Sunday the 7th of September, when the news 
reached Johnson that the French were approaching. He 
determined then, in spite of the advice of Hendricks the 
Indian chief, to send out a thousand men to intercept them, 
while the remainder proceeded to fortify their camp. On 
the morning of the 8th September the rattle of musketry 
was heard in the distance, and Johnson knew that his men 
were engaged. He soon learnt that they had unfortunately 
fallen into a cleverly planned ambuscade. The English 
provincials did not attempt to stand their ground. The 
survivors of the sudden attack scattered in all directions, 
shooting with true hunters' instinct from behind trees or 
anything that afforded cover. At last they regained their 
camp, still pursued, but aided in their retreat by a party 
of their friends who came out to meet them. In the mean- 
time those who had been left in the camp had strongly 
entrenched themselves by an abattis of felled trees, wagons, 
and bateaux, behind which their marksmen lay concealed, 
protected at the rear by the lake. Soon after the breath- 
less fugitives had reached this place of refuge the white 
uniforms and shining arms of the French regulars appeared 
in front, while in the morasses and bushes on either side 
the Canadians and Indians were posted. 

Johnson's men were so well protected that the enemy's 
fire had little effect, and from behind their shelter they 
returned it with deadly aim, assisted also by three pieces 
of artillery which did great execution. So incessant was 
the rain of bullets that poured upon them that the un- 
disciphned Canadians broke and fled. The French regulars 
stood their ground for some time longer, and kept up their 
attack until, weakened by their losses, with half their men 
killed and their general severely wounded, they at last gave 



70 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

way, and with a shout the Enghsh provincials and their 
savage alHes leaped over their barricades and pursued them. 

The rout was complete, and Dieskau was taken 
prisoner. In their retreat the unfortunate French, in 
their turn, rushed into an ambuscade of some New York 
and New Hampshire rangers, who hearing the fire had 
come out from Fort Lyman, and now lay in wait in the 
darkness. Though fewer in number, so sudden and deadly 
was their attack that the French who fell into the trap 
were almost annihilated. ' This memorable conflict,' 
Parkman says, ' has cast its dark associations over one 
of the most beautiful spots in America. Near the scene 
of the evening fight a pool, half overgrown by weeds 
and water lilies, and darkened by the surrounding forest, 
is pointed out to the tourist, and he is told that beneath 
its stagnant waters lie the bones of three hundred French- 
men deep buried in mud and slime.' 

Great was the rejoicing when the news reached England, 
for though it was but a small skirmish, and the main attack 
on Crown Point was not carried out, it was still an offset 
to the humiliation of Braddock's rout, and honours were 
poured upon the fortunate Johnson who had snatched a 
victory from defeat. It was all the more surprising, because 
he had never seen service himself, and knew nothing of war, 
while his opponent Dieskau had been one of Marshal Saxe's 
best officers, and had fought under him on many a famous 
battlefield. 

A letter from Calvert to Sharpe gives what was thought 
in England of the affair. From London, on 23rd December 
1755, he writes that he sends him ' The London Gazette 
Extraordinary, Oct. 30th, wherein is an Extract of a letter 
from Gov. Wentworth to the Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Robin- 
son, dated Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Sept. 10th, 1755, 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 71 

enclosing letter writ by Major Johnson from the camp at 
Lake George, Sept. 9th, 1755.' 

' The Action was glorious on the English Side and by Mr. 
Johnson well conducted and gained with Military Skill and 
Bravery by the Officers and Troops. The Baron Dieskau 
the French General seems to have fallen into an Ambuscade 
like General Braddock. Mr. Johnson here is in high Esteem 
and as a Distinguishable Mark of Reward for his real 
service His Majesty has dignified him with the Stile and 
Title of Baronet.' 

Johnson did not follow up his victory as he might have 
done while the enemy were demorahsed, but contented 
himself with building on the south-west shore of Lake 
George a fort which he called William Henry after a Royal 
Prince of that name. His excuse for not moving on Crown 
Point was that the reinforcements sent him by Shirley in 
October had made him short of provisions, that the season 
was advanced, and his men had no proper clothing. 

Shirley had now determined to call a council of war like 
the one held by Braddock at Alexandria, and Horatio 
Sharpe was among the few bidden to it. On 7th October, 
Shirley writes to him from Oswego : ' Being fully per- 
suaded that a meeting between you, Governor Morris, Sir 
Charles Hardy and myself, at New York, on my return to 
Boston through that place at the latter end of November 
would be greatly for the good of His Majesty's service in 
settling the plan of operations for the ensuing Spring, I have 
sent to you an Express to desire that you should do me the 
pleasure to meet me at New York in 30 days from this date.' 

In the meantime, Sharpe was much troubled by affairs 
in his own province. Very bad reports came from Fort 
Cumberland, where Captain Dagworthy commanded in the 
place of Innes. The Indians had cut off many families 



72 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

who lived near the fort on both sides of the Potomac. 
More than a hundred persons had been carried off, or scalped 
and tomahawked. The garrison was reduced by desertions 
to about a hundred and forty, including about a hundred 
that remained of the decimated Virginians. Governor 
Dinwiddie was raising a thousand men to complete the 
regiment, which he intended to put under the command 
of Colonel Washington. Now arose another difficulty, 
for Captain Dagworthy, who had formerly held a king's 
commission, refused to give up the command to Washington, 
who held his only from the governor of Virginia. It looked 
very much as if there would be friction between the province 
of Maryland and the dominion of Virginia as to the right 
to command the fort. 

Mr. Washington, who was never willing to give up a point, 
determined to appeal to the commander-in-chief, and set off 
in mid-winter on horseback for a ride of five hundred miles 
to Boston and back, accompanied by Captains Morris and 
Stewart. Governor Shirley confirmed Governor Dinwiddie's 
appointment, and the young provincial colonel became com- 
mandant of Fort Cumberland. A sad and thankless office 
it was, for the ravages of the Indians continued all winter, 
and almost in despair of relieving the suffering he saw, 
Washington writes : ' The supplicating tears of the women, 
and moving petitions of the men melt me into that deadly 
sorrow that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, 
I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering 
ennemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease.' 

In Annapolis, even, the terror was great, A letter from 
an inhabitant says : ' The Indians as we are now informed 
are within a Hundred Miles of this City the Metropolis of 
our Province, and that in a considerable and formidable 
Body the Country lies open before them.' 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 73 

The Gazette of 6th November says : ' We are now about 
entrenching the Town. If the gentlemen in the neighbour- 
hood of Annapohs would send their force to assist in it, a 
few days would complete the work.' 

It does not appear that the entrenchments were ever 
required, though deeds of horror still went on in the western 
part of the province. Sharpe called out the militia of the 
province, and volunteers under Captain Beall, Lieutenant 
Samuel Magruder, and Colonel Henry Ridgely hastened to 
the invaded district. In a letter to Shirley of 17th October 
1755, Sharpe accepts his invitation to the council, and 
thinks it will be attended with good consequences. It 
had evidently been decided that nothing more could 
be attempted this year. The greater part of Admiral 
Boscawen's fleet was to sail to England. General, now 
Sir William Johnson, had decided to abandon the expedition 
to Crown Point, and to return to Albany with most of the 
provincial troops, leaving only a small garrison at Fort 
William Henry and at Fort Lyman, now called Fort Edward. 
General Shirley, who had intended in September to make a 
descent upon Fort Frontenac, had not found the scheme 
practicable. Therefore, with the exception of the capture 
by Colonel Monckton of the three forts in Acadia, and the 
successful skirmish at Lake George, the campaign of 1755 
had been barren of results, and singularly unfortunate in 
the affair of Fort Duquesne. 

As to naval affairs, a letter from Captain Spry of H.M.S. 
Fougueux, dated from Halifax Harbour, 20th October 1755, 
to Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe, gives the latest report, 
and also incidentally shows that the authorities looked to 
the latter for wise counsel in military operations : 

' Admiral Boscawen being sailed for England and having 
honoured me with the Command of all His Majesty's Ships 



74 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



and Vessels he has thought proper to leave in this Harbour, 
as well as those stationed at the Bahama Islands and 
the different Colonys of North America ; a list whereof I 
herewith Transmit you, that you may be a Judge of His 
Majesty's Naval Force still remaining in those seas. 

' As the winter season advances apace, and Admiral 
Boscawen was pretty well assured before he sailed that the 
garrison of Louisbourg would receive no more supplies 
from France this year, he therefore directed me to lay up 
the great ships and secure them for the winter that I may 
be the better enabled to proceed to sea as early in the Spring 
as the Season will permit, and Cruize in such a manner 
as shall be judged most proper to distress the French both 
at Louisbourg and Quebec ; and you may be assured I 
shall use all the means in my power to prevent any supplies 
of men or Provisions from being thrown into either of these 
places ; in executing which service I shall on all occasions 
pay great deference to your advice as I am sensible your 
Excellency is very capable of informing me properly. 

' A list of Ships and Vessels under the command of 
Richard Spry, Esq., Captain of His Majesty's Shii^Fougueux : 



Fougueux 

Litchfield 

Norwich 

Centurion 

Success 

Vulture, Sloop 

Mermaid 

Nightingale 

Guarland 

Syren 

Baltimore, Sloop 

Jamaica, Sloop 



Guus. 


Men. 




64 


500 




50 


330 




50 


330 




54 


400 




20 


130 




14 


90 




20 


130 


Boston. 


20 


130 


New York. 


22 


130 


Virginia. 


20 


130 


S. Carolina. 


16 


90 


N, Carolina 


14 


90 


Bahamas.' 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 75 

The Maryland Gazette, on Thursday, 6th November, 
announces : ' Friday morning last His Excellency our 
Governor accompanied by a number of the principal gentle- 
men of the place set off for the Northward.' 

Governor Shirley was not prompt in keeping his appoint- 
ment, and the governor of Maryland was delayed for some 
weeks in New York awaiting his arrival. It was indeed a 
gay place in that autumn of 1755. Although the prestige 
of England had waned on Braddock's fatal field, New York 
was bracing itself to weather the storm. The Hudson was 
crowded with sloops, transporting supplies to the frontier. 
The drums were beating through the city streets gathering 
recruits, and great were the festivities at the arrival of 
Sir Charles Hardy, who had been sent out to take the place 
of Sir Danvers Osborne, whose suicide two days after his 
arrival had been such a tragedy the year before. Sir 
Charles came by the frigate Sphynx in September 1755, and 
his arrival was made the occasion of a brilliant pageant. 
We read that as his barge reached White Hall it was saluted 
with fifteen guns from Fort George, and at the landing 
were gathered all the high dignitaries of the province in 
their robes of state. 

The new governor was escorted by a troop of horse to his 
residence within Fort George, the way lined by the inde- 
pendent companies of the province. After the commission 
was published, the whole city betook itself to festivity. 
The governor held a reception where the royal healths 
were drunk, and a grand dinner was laid at the ' Province 
Arms,' the former residence of the Hon. James de Lancey, 
lieutenant-governor. 

A letter to Sharpe from Lieutenant-Governor Morris 
suggests that in that gay town there were distractions from 
the cares of State. He writes as follows : 



76 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

' I have the honour of your Excellency's of the 20th 
inst,, and I am sorry you have been obliged to stay so long 
for Genl. Shirley, but hope the company of the many 
agreable Ladies in New York have in some measure made 
amends for the want of business. I am sure I have wished 
myself with you ever since you went from hence, not only 
on account of the pleasure I always enjoy in your company, 
but to be free from the plague of having to do with an 
obstinate assembly who seem to have no regard for the 
safety of the province. The Indians have attacked and 
destroyed one of the Moravian Settlements near the Forks 
of the Delaware, and have put to death all the people 
except two.' 

On 25th November, Sharpe was still waiting in New 
York for General Shirley, and on that date he writes from 
there to his brother : 

' We impatiently desire to know what Steps will be taken 
in Consequence of General Braddock's Defeat and the 
Issue of this Campaign. For my own part I hope not less 
than four or five Regiments will be sent over, and believe 
that that number with those that are already here and 
three or four Thousand Irregulars, will find enough business 
on their hands if it is determined to cut off the Communica- 
tion between the Ennemy's northern and southern Settle- 
ments. This year's Experience I flatter myself, has demon- 
strated that the Colonies are not to be depended on for 
Assistance, and unless the People are obliged by an Act 
of Parliament to furnish Horses, Waggons, etc., to the 
utmost of their power to forward any future Expedition, 
it will be in vain to concert Plans for Conquest or under- 
take any Enterprise on the Continent of America. 

' P. 8. — I have just been informed by Sir John St. Clair 
that the General has come to a resolution to raise two more 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 77 

Regiments on the Establishment in America this winter ; 
he will not dispose of such Regiments when raised, but 
leave it to His Majesty to appoint the Colonels. As this is 
the case I flatter myself you will exert your interest in my 
favour and endeavour to procure me the command of one.' 

General Shirley had in the meanwhile been employing 
his troops in the strengthening of the fort at Oswego, and 
had left for its defence about nine hundred men of his own 
and Sir William Pepperell's regiment under the command 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Mercer. On Lake Ontario he had 
placed a sloop and schooner carrying six carriage and 
twenty swivel guns each, and as the French were building 
at Cataraqui vessels of a large size to dispute the navigation 
of the lake the following summer, he ordered some vessels 
of more than a hundred tons' burden to be placed on the 
stocks, and a great number of whale-boats to be built 
during the winter. 

One of the causes of his present delay in attending 
the council was the illness and death of his second son. 
Captain John Shirley, from fever at Oswego. Governor 
Morris writes to Dinwiddle : ' My heart bleeds for Mr. 
Shirley. The loss of two sons in one Campaign scarcely 
admits of consolation.' 

The council of war was held at New York on Friday, the 
12th of December 1755. From the minutes of the meeting 
we learn that there were present : 

' His Excellency Wm. Shirley, Esq., General, etc., Com- 
mander-in-Chief ; Sir Charles Hardy, Kt., Governor, Com- 
mander-in-Chief Province New York; the Hon. Horatio 
Sharpe, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief Pro- 
vince Maryland ; Robt. H. Morris, Lieutenant-Governor and 
Commander-in-Chief Province Pennsylvania ; Thomas Fitch, 
Governor and Commander-in-Chief Colony Connecticut; 



78 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Colonel Thos. Dunbar; Major Charles Craven; Sir John 
St. Clair, Deputy Quarter-Master-General ; Major James 
Kinneer ; Major John Rutherford. 

' The instructions given to General Braddock were read, 
and His Excellency, General Shirley, observed that the 
Reasons Assigned in His Majesty's instructions for ordering 
General Braddock to begin his operations on the Ohio 
seemed to be principally founded on some information which 
had been given, that the support of the French forts and 
settlements upon that River is drawn from their Settle- 
ments upon the Mississippi.' 

His Excellency then continued : ' The only practicable 
Entrance which His Majesty's Subjects have with the Lake 
Ontario is at Oswego, thro' the River Onondaga, which is 
the only Harbour fit to receive Vessels of any force that 
His Majesty hath upon that Lake, and that Oswego is 
situated in the country of the Onondagoes which hes in the 
middle of that inhabited by the Six Nations, and is the 
only Trading House the English have for carrying on a 
Commerce and Correspondence with the Western Indians. 
The only practicable Entrance the French have into the 
same Lake is thro' the River Iroquoise, called in some of 
their late Maps the River St. Lawrence, and near Fort 
Frontenac, which is situated on the north-east Edge of 
that Lake at about 50 miles Distant from and nearly oppo- 
site to Oswego. Whilst the French are in possession of 
that Fort and the Harbour there, with a free passage into 
the Lake through the River Iroquoise, together with their 
Harbour at Toronto on the Lake, they will have it in their 
power to build and Maintain Vessels of Force upon the 
Lake which, unless His Majesty shall keep up at least an 
equal Naval Force there, may not only annoy any Fort 
which should be erected by His Majesty's Subjects at the 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 79 

N.E. End of the Pass of Niagara, but endanger the loss of 
Oswego itself to the French, which would inevitably be 
attended with the Defection of the several Castles of the 
Indians of the Six Nations to the French Interest in a 
short time, and with the loss of the whole country as far 
as Shenectady, and very possibly soon followed with the 
Loss of the city of Albany. From the best information he 
can procure it appears to him that the French Forts and 
Settlements at Niagara, upon Lake Erie, and the Ohio, 
and even as far as Misilimakinak upon the Lake Huron 
are wholly supported with stores and Provisions from 
Montreal by water carriage through the River Iroquoise 
and across the Lake Ontario and not from the French 
Settlements on the Mississippi, which being near the distance 
of 2000 miles from any of them are too remote to afford them 
any support. Consequently, the dislodging of the French 
from Fort Frontenac and their small fort ^ at Toronto, and 
barring up their Entrance into the Lake Ontario thro' the 
River Iroquoise would cut off all their Forts and Settle- 
ments upon that and the other Lakes, and the River Ohio, 
from all support from Canada, without which they could not 
possibly long subsist. 

' Therefore His Excellency proposes the following Plan 
of Operations for the ensuing year : 

' That a Body of 5000 Troops should be assembled at 
Oswego by the last week in April, and Fort Frontenac and 
La Galette upon the River Oswegatie be attacked with 4000 
of them in the beginning of May, leaving 1000 at Oswego 
for the Protection of that Place. 

' That after dislodging the French Troops at Cataraqui 
and La Galette they should be employed in attacking the 
French Forts and Settlements at Niagara, Presqu'isle, 

1 Fort Roum6. 



80 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

the River a Boeuf, Detroit, and Misillimackinac, and to 
secure the several Posts there. That 3000 Troops should 
at the same time be marched to Fort Duquesne by Land 
from Wills Creek to attack that Fort. 

' That Crown Point should be at the same time attacked 
with 6000 Troops, a Fort afterwards built on Lake Champ- 
lain, and one or more Vessels built to navigate that Lake ; 
and in order to divide the Force of Canada more effectually 
after breaking up all the French Settlements upon the river 
Chaudiere, with 2000 Troops, about the same time, to 
make a feint on Quebec at the mouth of the said River, 
which is within Three Miles distance from that Metropolis 
situate on the opposite side of the River St. Lawi'ence. 

' His Excellency then desired the opinion and advice 
of the Council upon every part of the proposed plan, and 
particularly whether the number of Troops was sufficient. 
He then observed to the Council that if the before-men- 
tioned attempts for the reduction of the French Forts and 
Settlements upon the Lake and the Ohio and Crown Point 
should not be made at the same time, but one of them only 
carried out at a Time, these Dangers would ensue, viz.. 
If an attempt should be made upon the Lake Ontario for 
the reduction of the Fort at Cataraqui and Niagara, etc., 
without any against Crown Point, the French would either 
bend the chief part of the whole force of Canada to oppose 
it, in which case three times a larger Body of Troops 
would be required to encounter it there as would make the 
Transportation of them and their stores and Provisions to 
Oswego in time almost impracticable, or else the French 
would muster so strong a Force against Albany as might 
take it, and by that means likewise cut off all communica- 
tion between it and the Forces at Oswego, which must 
receive its whole support of Stores and Provisions from 



SHIRLEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 1755 81 

thence. On the other hand, if an Attempt should be made 
for the Reduction of Crown Point only, and not against 
Fort Cataraqui, Niagara, etc., at the same time, Oswego, 
which from the Intelligence gained at that place, appears 
to be the great object of the French, would be in danger of 
being lost to them, in case they should bend their principal 
Force against it ; which loss would be an irretrievable One 
to the English, as it would not only be loss of the Country 
as far as Albany, together with the Six Nations, but give 
the French the Dominion of the Great Lake and the whole 
Southern Country.' 

The council, after taking the several matters into con- 
sideration, gave it as their unanimous opinion : 

' 1st. That it is most essentially necessary at all Events 
to secure the Navigation of the Lake Ontario, and from the 
Intelligence the General has informed them he has already 
received, of Vessels building by the Ennemy at Fort Fron- 
tenac, that at least Three Vessels be built immediately at 
Oswego, and that on any future Intelligence of the Ennemys 
increasing their Naval Force, that the General should build 
such and so many more vessels as he finds necessary for 
securing the Mastery of the Lake. 

' 2nd. That one expedition be carried on against Crown 
Point and another against the French Settlements and 
Encroachments on Lake Ontario ; that both Armies ren- 
dezvous at their respective Places of Destination as soon 
as possible in the Spring. 

' 3rd. That an Army of 10,000 Men will be necessary 
for the Expedition against Crown Point. 

' 4th. That an Army of 6000 Men at least wiU be neces- 
sary for the Expedition against the French Encroachments 
on Lake Ontario. 

' 5th. Approving of the Attempt against Fort Du Quesne. 



82 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

' 6th. Approving of the Feint with 2000 Men against 
Quebec by way of the River Chaudiere, provided that it 
can be done without prejudice to the other parts of the 
service already agreed on. 

' That with regard to the operations on Lake Ontario it 
was the opinion of the majority of the council that they 
should be begun by the attack of Cataraqui. 

' Lastly, the council are unanimously of opinion that an 
additional number of Regular Troops will be necessary for 
effectually recovering and securing His Majesty's Rights and 
Dominions upon this Continent.' 

The plan of campaign was a bold one and promised much, 
but Shirley was not destined to carry it out. 



CHAPTER VI 

ACADIA AND MARYLAND 

While Horatio Sharpe was absent in New York there came 
to his province a hapless band of exiles destined to receive 
but a sorry welcome in whatever land their lot was cast. 
The Maryland Gazette has the following : 

' Annapolis, Uh December 1755. 
' Sunday last arrived here the last of the vessels from 
Nova Scotia, with French Neutrals for this place, which 
makes Four within this fortnight who have brought upwards 
of 900 of them. As the poor people have been deprived of 
their settlements in Nova Scotia, and sent here for some 
very political reason bare and destitute, Christian Charity, 
nay. Common Humanity, Calls on every one according to 
their Ability to lend their Assistance and Help to these 
Objects of Compassion.' 

It was the last sad chapter of a long story beginning as 
far back as 1633, and even at this day, one hundred and 
fifty years after the expatriation, the question is not settled 
whether their doom was just, or whether the mode of carry- 
ing out their sentence was too severe. Historians differ. 
We only know that of those tragic days : 

' The shadow of inextinguishable pain 
The poet's deathless music — these remain.' 

The people of Acadia were mainly descendants of the 
colonists who were brought out to La Heve and Port Royal 
between the years 1604 and 1630. ' They came from 

83 



84 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Rochelle, Saintonge, and Poitou — from a country of 
marshes, where the sea was kept out by artificial dykes, 
and they found in Acadia similar marshes which they dealt 
with in the same way.' 

All through its early history Acadia, or Nova Scotia, 
suffered from the insecurity to life and property which arose 
from its repeated change of masters. Neither France nor 
England cared much for a region of so little apparent value. 
Both alike regarded it merely as debatable ground or as 
a convenient makeweight in adjusting the balance of 
conquests or losses elsewhere. After changing hands 
several times, in 1692 it was annexed to Massachusetts, 
but the British authority was only nominal. It was again 
surrendered to France by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. 
In 1710, the garrison of Port Royal capitulated to the 
English fleet under the following terms. The garrison was 
to be transported to France. The inhabitants living within 
a cannon shot of Port Royal were to be protected in person 
and property for two years on taking an oath of allegiance 
to the Queen of England, or were to be allowed to remove to 
French territory. 

The name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis in 
honour of Queen Anne, but the oath of allegiance was not 
taken by the inhabitants. 

Acadia never again came under French control, but was 
formally ceded to England by the Treaty of Utrecht in 
1713. By this treaty France was left in possession of Cape 
Breton, and began to build a very strong fort at Louisbourg, 
and invited to its protection the inhabitants of Acadia. 
Very few accepted the offer at the time, and very soon the 
English governors of Nova Scotia refused to allow them 
to settle in Cape Breton, as they feared the strengthening 
of that French colony. In 1715, the Acadians again refused 



ACADIA AND MARYLAND 85 

the oath of allegiance to King George, but in 1730 General 
Phillips, then governor of the province, prevailed upon them 
to take the oath on the understanding that it should not 
require them to bear arms against France. 

In 1745, Pepperell's army of artisans and farmers took 
Louisbourg, and the Acadians were accused of hampering 
the Enghsh by refusing them supplies. In 1746, Shirley, 
then governor of Massachusetts, thought that they might 
be made good subjects if French priests were excluded, 
and if English forts well garrisoned were placed on the 
Acadian peninsula. Knowles, then governor of Louisbourg, 
proposed deporting them and placing Catholic Jacobites 
from the Highlands in their place. Shirley, with his 
aversion for the Roman Catholic religion, thought Protes- 
tants from Ulster would be better. Newcastle, to whom 
he wrote, like Gallio, ' cared for none of these things,' and 
remained passive. In 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
restored Louisbourg and Cape Breton to France. The year 
after, Cornwallis became governor of Nova Scotia and 
founded the town of Halifax. He then demanded an un- 
conditional oath of allegiance from the Acadians, who then 
numbered 12,500 souls. This caused great consternation 
in the province, and the inhabitants sent deputies to him 
with a petition stating that they would not take the oath 
in the form he required, but, to quote their language, ' If 
your Excellency will grant us our old oath with an exception 
for ourselves and our heirs from taking up arms, we will 
accept it.' Cornwallis would not listen to these terms, but 
seems to have acted with patience and forbearance, as also 
did his successor, Hopson. As Cape Breton and Louisbourg 
had been restored to the French, and as the latter had, in 
1750, built three forts on the Acadian isthmus, which was 
debatable ground, the simple and ignorant peasant people 



86 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

no doubt thought that once more they were to come under 
French rule, and therefore they refused the oath. Besides, 
priestly influence was at work. Le Loutre, missionary to 
the Micmacs and vicar-general of Acadia under the Bishop 
of Quebec, taught them that to take the oath of allegiance 
to the heretic English king would imperil their souls. They 
asked permission to leave the province and settle in Isle 
Roy ale (Cape Breton) or Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward 
Island). Like the Israelites, they were not allowed to go. 
In 1752 there were about fourteen thousand Acadians in 
the province, Neutrals, as they were called. The oath of 
allegiance they still refused, although they professed fidelity 
to the British Crown. The fiery Lawrence was now lieu- 
tenant-governor of Nova Scotia. He wrote in his wrath 
to the Lords of Trade : ' I am determined to bring the 
inhabitants to a compliance, or rid the Province of such 
perfidious subjects.' Later events proved that this governor 
was not altogether disinterested. 

In 1755 the crisis came. In June of that year Colonel 
Monckton, commanding a regiment in Nova Scotia, assisted 
by two thousand Massachusetts men under Colonels Winslow 
and Scott, captured the three French forts on the Isthmus, 
and three hundred Acadians were found under arms in 
Beau Sejour. It is true that by the terms of capitulation 
these were pardoned by Monckton, but it did not prevent 
the terrible retribution which followed. Their conduct was 
made the excuse for the punishment which fell on all their 
compatriots. 

It was Governor Shirley of Massachusetts who asked 
permission of England for the deportation of the unhappy 
Acadians. It was Governor Lawrence who designed the 
plan, and Colonels Monckton and Winslow who were the 
principal agents by which it was carried out. They were 



ACADIA AND MARYLAND 87 

assisted by the New England soldiery who, Puritans by 
descent, with the harshness that was part of their religion, 
looked upon the scattering of these Papists as a righteous 
deed. No instructions had been received from the Home 
Government, and Lawrence had even been counselled by 
the secretary of state to act with prudence and forbearance. 
There is no need to enter fully into the miserable story. 
Lawrence had given orders to clear the country. Winslow 
was bidden to summon all the male inhabitants of Grand 
Pre and the district round to meet him at the church, where 
he read the edict of banishment, ending with the words : 
' You are prisoners of the King.' Of that miserable band 
of four hundred men twenty were allowed to go home each 
day to tell the sad tidings. The rest were kept as hostages 
for their return. Colonel Murray at Fort Edward carried 
out the same plan, and writes : ' I have got 183 in my 
possession.' Handfield wrote from AnnapoHs that many 
of the men of that neighbourhood had escaped to the 
woods. Winslow says in his diary : ' Things are very heavy 
on my heart and hands.' This was the 5th of September. 
From another settlement Major Preble, of Monckton's 
battalion, writes that his party had just returned from 
Chepody, where he had gone to destroy the settlements 
and bring off the women and children. They had burned 
two hundred and fifty-three buildings, and had left fifty 
men to burn the mass-house, as they called the church. 
These men were set upon by some Indians and Acadians 
under Boishebert, and half the number were killed or 
wounded. This seems to have been the only resistance 
made. 

The sentence of banishment was so sudden and unex- 
pected that no resistance on the part of the Acadians was 
possible. One fell blow deprived them of home, of country. 



88 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

of all that they had won by hard toil. Of money they had 
little or none. Their wealth lay in their garnered grain, 
their orchards yet ungathered, their cattle grazing on those 
vast marsh lands saved from the sea, their vine-clad houses, 
their rude furniture carved by their own hands, their home- 
made clothing wrought on the looms and spinning-wheels 
which must be left in the spoilers' hands. The very grave- 
yards, where their loved ones lay, were trampled on by 
those cruel feet. What wonder that Winslow writes : ' It 
hurts me to hear their weeping and wailing and gnashing of 
teeth. I am in hopes our affairs will soon put on another 
face and we get transports, and I rid of the worst piece of 
business that ever I was in.' 

On the Wednesday after the seizure, when he had five 
hundred unarmed men guarded by his three hundred soldiers, 
Winslow feared a movement among them, and at once 
decided to make use of the five vessels from Boston which 
were lying in the harbour, and to place fifty men in each. 
They refused to move, until forced on by the point of the 
bayonet, and then they set off slowly, ' praying, singing and 
crying, being met by the women and children all the way 
with great lamentation upon their knees.' Winslow, though 
not tender-hearted, showed a rough kind of compassion in 
his treatment of the unfortunate exiles. He was but a 
soldier obeying the orders of his superior, and was glad 
when the work was done. When the great embarkation 
came he did what he could to keep famihes together, but 
it was inevitable that there should be sometimes separation 
in the confusion of departure. 

There was a long delay for want of sufficient transports 
and provisions, and Winslow grew heartsick at the misery 
he had caused. At last seven transports came, and Murray 
wrote to him from Fort Edward in his hard fashion : ' Thank 



ACADIA AND MARYLAND 89 

God, so soon as I have shipped off my rascals I will come 
down, settle matters with you and enjoy ourselves a little.' 

The first sailed on 8th October, and not till they were 
actually on board could the people believe it was true. 
Winslow's diary says of the departure : ' The women in 
great distress were carrying their childi'en in their arms ; 
others their decrepit parents in carts with their goods, 
moving in great confusion.' Then the torch was applied 
to their once happy homes. The last were not embarked 
till late in December, About seven thousand were scattered 
among the English colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia. 
Some had escaped to the woods and others to Canada, 
where at Quebec they met with a harsher reception even 
than from the English colonies. Montcalm's aide-de-camp 
wrote of them : ' They are dying by wholesale. Their past 
and present misery joined to the rapacity of the Canadians 
who seek only to squeeze out of them all they can and then 
refuse them the help so dearly bought, are the cause of this 
mortality.' 

How the exiles fared in Maryland is told in the corre- 
spondence of Governor Sharpe. 

It was not a propitious time for a number of French 
Catholics to settle in that province. There was a strong 
anti-Catholic feeling there, which the ravages of the Indians, 
incited as they were by their French allies, had increased. 
However, the miserable condition of the exiles did excite 
some feeling of compassion, and food and shelter were 
provided for the time through the influence of one Mr. 
Callister, ' without whose assistance,' they say in their 
memorial to Governor Sharpe, ' they would have been 
reduced to die of hunger, as no rations were supplied by 
the King, after the day of landing.' CaUister writes : ' If 
their effects had been sent out with them it would be but 



90 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Justice to the Colonies who take them in.' Evidently these 
unfortunates had not their household goods, as had been 
promised in their edict of banishment. They were not 
allowed to remain in Annapolis, but, by order of the presi- 
dent of the council, Mr. Tasker, who acted in the governor's 
absence, they were scattered in different parts of the pro- 
vince. Callister writes of those sent to Oxford on the 
Chesapeake : ' Nobody knows what to do ; and few have 
charity for them. I think it an unhappy event that has 
put them into our hands at this time, when Papist prin- 
ciples are dangerous, even in sworn subjects. Some of 
them who are dispersed to other parts of Maryland and the 
other colonies we daily hear the most shocking accounts 
of. In Somerset Co. I hear they were obliged to betake 
themselves for shelter to the swamps, now and a long time 
full of snow, where they sicken and die. I have had the 
good fortune, not without opposition and difficulty, to 
dispose of this sloop load ; almost every family being now 
placed in good houses for the winter. There 's a number 
now about me in tears, craving relief for their sick.' 

In a letter to Sharpe, in which he claims some compensa- 
tion for the expense he had incurred on their account, 
Callister says : ' The simple people called themselves 
prisoners of war, but they were soon made sensible of their 
mistake. They might easily be forgiven when one con- 
siders. It is a dilemma to them, and may well puzzle 
wiser heads, especially as they say in their address to His 
Majesty they were treated as prisoners of war by Governor 
Lawrence. They might have thought themselves not only 
in duty bound to declare themselves prisoners, but also in 
that character to be entitled to better treatment than they 
have met with as faithful subjects. . . . 

' We are very liberal to the French of the epithet of 



ACADIA AND MARYLAND 91 

perfidious, and with justice ; but those who sow thorns 
should not go barefoot.' 

In February 1757 there was an address presented to the 
House of Assembly from the electors of Talbot County, on 
whom the Acadians had been quartered, stating that they 
had become a grievance ' inasmuch as we are not at present 
in a situation capable of seconding their own fruitless 
endeavour to support their numerous families, as a people 
plundered of their effects. They cannot find houses, cloth- 
ing, and other comforts in their condition needful, without 
going from house to house begging, whereby they are become 
a nuisance to a country hardly able to support their own 
poor.' 

Some were more fortunate. Those who had been sent 
to Baltimore were received well, and after a while, by their 
industry and frugality these poor exiles regained some 
portion of comfort. The quarter in Baltimore where they 
established themselves was called French town, and many 
of their descendants are to be found now prosperous and 
wealthy citizens. In time, some found their way back to 
Nova Scotia, and with those who had escaped at the time of 
the deportation became the ancestors of the Acadians of 
the present day. 

A Nemesis seemed to follow those who had taken part 
in the sorry work in Acadia. Colonels Monckton and 
Winslow fought a duel, in which they were both severely 
wounded ; while Shirley in a very short time was dis- 
possessed of all his dignities, and had to seek in his old 
age a new home in a distant island. 

Morris writes to Sharpe on 29th January 1756 : 'A 
Messenger employed upon some private business to your 
town gives me an opportunity of writing you, but allows 
only time to mention an unhappy affair that happened at 



92 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Halifax between the Colonels Monckton and Winslow, who 
it seems had some dispute while they were upon service 
together, but suppressed their resentment till they came 
to Halifax, when, meeting either by Accident or Appoint- 
ment, they engaged, and are both wounded in such a manner 
as to leave little hope of the recovery of either of them.' 

They both recovered, however, and did much good service 
afterwards. 

So many adverse criticisms have been lodged against 
Longfellow for his alleged romantic perversion of events 
in his poem ' Evangeline,' that it will not be uninteresting 
to note that, after all, the main features of his story find 
adequate confirmation in fact, despite the admitted one- 
sidedness of his point of view. 

Governor Morris writes : ' Two of the Neutrals, one 
imported at New York, and the other here, have obtained 
my leave to go to Annapolis in quest of their Families who, 
they think, are in some of the Ships which have arrived 
in your Province. If they light on them, or any other of 
the wives and children belonging to those imported here, 
I desire the favour of you to suffer as many to come to 
their friends here, as these two will undertake to conduct 
and defray the charges of their journey. I do not mean 
to put you or myself to any Expense for their removal ; 
but if Joseph Munier and Simon Leblanc who are recom- 
mended to me as good trustworthy people, and one of whom 
had been in the service of His Majesty, will bring any here 
at their own Expense, I desire they may be indulged to 
do it.' 

Governor Sharpe in his answer says : ' Your Request in 
favour of Munier and Leblanc shall be complied with. The 
wife and family of the first are here, the other is gone to 
look for his in a distant part of the Province.' 



ACADIA AND MARYLAND 93 

Garneau states : ' The aged notary Le Blanc, who had 
done Britain great service, died at Philadelphia destitute 
and broken-hearted, while in search of his sons, who were 
scattered about the colonies.' Of the wife nothing is said. 
It is to be hoped that he found her sooner than Evangeline 
found her Gabriel. 



CHAPTER VII 

Shirley's recall 

Governor Sharpe returned to Annapolis about the middle 
of December, and writes from there to Sir Charles Hardy : 

' Since my return from New York I have had the satis- 
faction to receive a Letter from Gov. Dinwiddie advising 
me that he has prevailed with 130 Cherokees to take up 
the Hatchet against the French, and that they are gone 
with some Companies from Virginia to attack one of the 
Shawanese Towns. The Catawaba Nation and Cherokees 
have engaged to send 1000 warriors in the Spring to act in 
conjunction with any Troops that may be employed in this 
part of the Continent next Summer against His Majesty's 
Enemies. 

' I embrace this opportunity of making my acknow- 
ledgement for the civilities I received at your house during 
my stay at New York, and to desire my compliments to 
Mr. Barons and his Lady.' 

At this time the question of a new commander-in-chief 
in America was freely discussed. It was known that in- 
fluences were at work against Shirley, and that he was not 
a persona grata to the authorities in England. Although 
the news did not reach America until the end of April, his 
successor had been appointed in March, in the person of 
John Campbell, Earl of Loudoun, a friend of Lord Halifax 
and a nominee of the Duke of Cumberland, under whom he 
had served in Scotland in the '45. Lord Loudoun was 
appointed titular governor of Virginia, as well as com- 

94 




GOVERNOR HORATIO SHARPE 



\Tofacc p. 94 



SHIRLEY'S RECALL 95 

mander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in America. As 
time proved, his appointment was not a happy one. 

Governor Dinwiddie writes to Sharpe, 8th March 1756 : 

' We are intirely in want of arms. None are sent here 
from His Majesty. Our agent says there are 6000 sent to 
New England to be distributed among the colonies ; they 
would have come sooner to hand if sent from London. Pray 
have you heard any account of Colonel Cornwallis being 
appointed as commander-in-chief ? ' 

Lord Baltimore writes to Sharpe, London, 9th March 
1756: 

' I have the pleasure to deliver this to the Earl of Loudoun 
and to inform you of the happiness His Majesty has done 
America by his appointment.' 

News from England came that in December 1755 Henry 
Fox had been appointed secretary of state in the place of 
Sir Thomas Robinson. Fox writes to Sharpe from White- 
hall, 13th March 1756 : 

' The Earl of Loudoun, whom the King has appointed 
commander-in-chief of all His Forces whatsoever in North 
America, being prepared to set out with all possible expedi- 
tion together with two Regiments of Foot, a Train of 
Artillery, and a sufficent quantity of Warlike Stores, I am 
commanded to signify to you the King's Pleasure that you 
should be ready to give His Lordship, and the Troops from 
England, all the Assistance in your Power on their arrival 
in America ; and you will correspond with and apply to 
the Earl of Loudoun on all occasions in the same manner 
as you were directed to do with the late General Braddock 
and Major-General Shirley. 

' It having been represented that a considerable number 
of Foreign Settlers in America might be more willing to 
enter into the King's service if they were commanded by 



96 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Officers of their own Country ; an Act of Parliament has 
been passed, enabling His Majesty to grant commissions to 
a certain number of German, Swiss, and Dutch Protestants, 
who have served as Officers or Engineers, and as they have 
already engaged, they will embark with all Expedition, in 
order to assist in raising and commanding such of the 
Foreign Protestants in N. America as shall be able and 
willing to serve with the rest of the forces upon this occasion.' 

From 1752 to 1755 a number of German emigrants had 
come to Maryland, the descendants of the inhabitants of 
the country lying on the Rhine and Necker which had 
been devastated during the wars of Louis xiv., and who 
had taken refuge in Holland. Now their children found in 
the New World a country that reminded them of the vine- 
clad hills of their fatherland. The first comers liked so 
weU the climate and sunshine of America that their good 
report induced numbers of German and Swiss Protestants, 
who were known in the colonies as Palatines, to emigrate. 
About three thousand came to Maryland. 

Sharpe was much opposed to the plan of raising regiments 
under Swiss officers, because, as he says in a letter to his 
brother, no step could have been taken more disagreeable 
to His Majesty's American subjects, and because he looked 
upon it as absolutely impracticable. ' Can it be supposed,' 
he said, ' that four thousand of our Inhabitants will hasten 
to enlist and serve under Foreigners, for I shall be much 
deceived if these Swiss are not esteemed as such by the 
Germans who have for any considerable time resided among 
us.' He continues : 

' Could I by your means obtain such a Colonel's Commis- 
sion as would give me a right to half-pay and at the same 
time a power to raise a Regiment, I think I could soon 
convince the Switzers that they are not the most proper 



SHIRLEY'S RECALL 97 

persons to be sent to raise men in these Parts. If my 
hands had not been tied up by such instructions as Empty 
Coffers seem to have dictated, I should many months ago 
have had a regiment of Maryland Troops under my com- 
mand, and in all probability have been enabled to prevent 
any Incursions of Indians into the Province and thereby 
have saved a great part of the £1600 which his Ldps. 
Agent tells me he has lost, by the back Inhabitants 
deserting their Plantations to avoid the Barbarities of 
the Savages.' 

There was indeed a reign of terror throughout the province, 
and great were the sufferings of the settlers. Scalping 
parties came within thirty miles of Baltimore, and on the 
frontier women and children were carried off by the savages 
or tomahawked and scalped within a few feet of their own 
doors. 

The Gazette of the 4th March says : ' Our accounts from 
the westward are truly alarming. All the slaughters, 
scalpings, burnings, and every other barbarity and mischief 
that the Mongrel French, Indians, or their chieftain the 
Devil can invent, are often perpetrated there, and approach 
us nigher and nigher. We are told last Sunday two boys 
in Frederic County were killed and scalped, and a son of 
one Mr, Lynn was found dead and scalped, himself and 
three more of his family missing. At the little Cove all the 
houses were burnt. Half a mile from Stoddarts Fort, Ralph 
Matson's house was burnt, some sheep the Indians flung 
in the fire alive, others they killed, some they scalped.' 

Another letter to the Gazette states : ' On our march to 
Tonalowya, 5 miles from Stoddarts Fort, we found John 
Myers' house in flames. Three miles and a half further 
we found a man killed and scalped with one arm cut off 
and several arrows sticking in him. At Stoddarts Fort 

O 



98 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

we found them all under arms expecting every minute to 
be attacked. At Combe's Fort we found a young man 
about 22, killed and scalped. Only four men in this fort 
and upwards of forty women and children, afraid to go out 
of the fort even for a drink of water. The young man 
mentioned above was one Lynn's son, who was sitting on 
the fence with young Combe when they discovered some 
Indians who were surrounding the fort ; the boys ran to get 
into the fort, but before they reached it Lynn's son was 
shot down. The other one was pursued to within thirty 
yards of the Fort by an Indian with a tomahawk, but he 
luckily got in and shot the Indian. About half a mile on 
this side of Mr. Kenny's we found two loads of oats and 
turnips in the road, which two boys were bringing to 
Combe's. It is thought the boys were carried off. Two 
miles further, about 200 yards from his house, we found 
Lowther dead and scalped.' 

At last in retaliation a party of sixty riflemen under 
Thomas and Daniel Cresap, dressed and painted like Indians, 
set off on an expedition to the Indian towns to kill the 
women and children left there by the warriors, who were 
committing similar destruction on the frontiers. It was a 
ghastly remedy, and the leader perished in the attempt. 
The Cresaps had long been distinguished for their skill in 
Indian warfare, and their house, which was a sort of block- 
house, and strong enough to resist an Indian attack, was a 
refuge for their neighbours whenever tidings came of the 
approach of the dreaded foe. Small wonder it was that in 
Annapolis armed patrols paraded the streets, and men's 
hearts failed them for fear as they looked at their wives 
and children, and thought of the painted devils incarnate 
that were so near. The pleasure-loving town had changed 
indeed, and the governor's heart was full of care. 



SHIRLEY'S RECALL 99 

The Gazette reflected the temper of the inhabitants, and the 
counsel it gave was ' to fortify the town or to pack up and 
be gone with all speed and seek out some safer habitation 
than this desolate and infatuated place ; for there is no 
time to lose, and one cannot go to bed of a night in safety, 
it being probable the enemy will burn our houses and cut 
our throats while sunk in sleep.' 

During the winter Governor Sharpe had been employing 
himself in building a chain of forts on the frontiers of his 
province, and a specially strong fort on the Potomac River, 
near the present town of Hancock. This one, named Fort 
Frederick, had barracks to accommodate several hundred 
men ; its bastions and curtains were faced with stone, and 
on each bastion was placed a six-pounder. The river was 
navigable nearly to Fort Cumberland. 

In a letter to his brother Sharpe complains bitterly of the 
parsimony of the colonies in the question of defence, and 
says : ' To what a condition will they be brought, and 
what a vast acquisition will the French have made on the 
Continent while we are so infatuated as to look on as idle 
Spectators not interested in the event of the Campaign. 
That the Ennemy know the value and importance of the 
Lakes I am fully persuaded.' 

George Washington, then twenty-four years of age, was 
not an idle spectator, but eager to take his part in the 
coming struggle. Sharpe writes to Shirley on his behalf : 
' The enclosed letter I am desired to forward to your 
Excellency from Colonel Washington, to request you to 
commission and appoint him second in command, in case 
these colonies shall raise a sufficient number of Troops for 
carrying on an expedition or making a Diversion to the 
westward this summer. As Mi. Washington is much 
esteemed in Virginia and really seems a gentleman of merit, 



100 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

I should be exceedingly glad to learn that your Excellency 
is not averse to favouring his request.' 

In reply Shirley writes : ' In the meantime I beg you 
would be pleased to acquaint Colonel Washington that the 
appointment of him to the second in command in the pro- 
posed expedition upon the Ohio will give me great satis- 
faction and pleasure, that I know no Provincial Officer 
upon this Continent to whom I would so readily give it 
as to himself, that I shall do it if there is nothing in the 
King's orders that interferes with it, and that I will have 
the pleasure of answering his Letter immediately after my 
receiving them.' 

In a letter from Sharpe to Governor Morris of 24th April 
1756, he reports that by a ship that had arrived at Hampton, 
Virginia, on the 16th inst., news had come of the declaration 
of war by England against France, and that Lord Loudoun 
and Colonel Abercrombie with three regiments were coming 
to America. This statement, however, as to war being 
declared by England, was premature, for the declaration 
did not take place until the 18th of May. 

In a letter to his brother of the 2nd of May, Sharpe says : 
' Sir Wilham Johnson is not, as you seem to expect, to 
have the command of the Provincial Troops that are raising 
in the Eastern Colonies for another expedition against 
Crown Point. That is to be given to Colonel Winslow, 
who commanded the New England Troops last summer 
in Nova Scotia. I cannot learn what character he 
bears as an officer, but he is much esteemed in New 
England.' 

John Winslow was a native of Massachusetts, a descendant 
of one of the early governors of Plymouth colony. He was 
not well educated, but had great force of character. He 
had seen military service at Carthagena and on other 



SHIRLEY'S RECALL 101 

occasions, and had the complete confidence of his men, 
who enhsted readily to serve under him. 

The letter continues : ' Sir Wilham Johnson will concern 
himself only with the Indians, which is his proper sphere. 
I believe that the Indians that he leads are to act in con- 
junction with the Jersey Regiment on the Lakes this 
summer. I have been informed that to support his Interest 
among the Six Nations he has almost spent his fortune.' 
The letter continues : ' I am inclined to think General 
Shirley must be weary of his command, and will resign 
without much reluctance. The news of his being super- 
seded will not I believe be unwelcome to the Troops or 
the Inhabitants of N. York, but I fear the people of the 
Massachusetts Bay will not be so well satisfied with any 
gentleman that might be appointed the successor in 
that Government.' 

One cannot help feeling pity for Shirley, who that year 
had been so unfortunate both in public and private life. 
His star was setting in gloomy clouds. Everything that 
he did was misrepresented. The plans he had laid were 
excellent, but he had miscalculated his powers of fulfilment. 
Nothing was ready in time, but his failure was partly owing 
to the lukewarmness of the different colonies, and their 
want of cohesion. Each assembly had its own ideas and 
plans for raising troops, for transportation, for supplies. 
Each was jealous of the other. As to the French, they 
were united under one head, possessed a trained army, 
were not dependent for supplies or money on local govern- 
ments, and had the advantage, although fewer in numbers, 
of being well organised. General Montcalm, who had re- 
placed Dieskau, arrived in May, and with him came the 
Chevalier de Levis, as second in command. 

Sir John St. Clair, who was no friend to Shirley, writes 



102 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

to Sharpe from Albany on 28th April 1756 : 'I have just now 
received your Excellency's letter of the 6th. I shall do 
everything in my power to obey your commands in serving 
]Mr. McKay, but my interest and influence with our com- 
manding General diminishes daily, in so much that I am 
the only person in the Army who has nothing to do. I 
have requested of His Excellency, seeing he has no use for 
me, to order me home, but that cannot be granted. All 
I can say is that our affairs to me have an evil aspect, and 
in place of annoying the Ennemy, I wish we may be able 
to hinder them from annoying us. As to our taking the 
field, that must entirely depend on the Mihtary knowledge 
and activity of Lt.-Col. Bradstreet. I wish he may not 
lead us astray ; he and General Shirley I suppose under- 
stand one another ; I understand neither. I wish you all 
the Success you can desire, and more satisfaction than I 
ever can hope for in America.' 

The expedition he speaks of under Colonel Bradstreet 
was one for the purpose of conveying stores and provisions 
to Oswego, and to the ports between Albany and Lake 
Champlain. 

Owing to his scanty supply of soldiers Shirley devised a 
plan to avoid weakening the garrisons in providing escorts. 
He enlisted two thousand boatmen or fishermen, divided 
them into companies of fifty, armed each man with a 
gun and a hatchet, and placed them under the com- 
mand of John Bradstreet, the energetic and capable, if 
somewhat vainglorious, provincial officer. In spite of Sir 
John St. Clair's forebodings, Bradstreet managed his raw 
recruits with success ; notably so in an engagement with 
the French under Coulon de Villiers near Oswego early in 
July. 

The state of the province of Maryland at this time is 



SHIRLEY'S RECALL 103 

described in a letter from Sliarpe to Lord Baltimore, 5th 
May 1756 : 

' With regard to the present condition of your Lordship's 
Province and the unhappy situation of the Frontier Inhabi- 
tants, I have little to add. Those that are exposed to 
immediate Danger want Spirit and Unanimity, and those 
that are remote seem to have but little feeling for the 
Miseries of their Fellow Subjects. In Virginia some of 
their little Forts have been attacked and some reduced, 
and a Captain of the Virginia Regiment with a Detachment 
of 60 men was about a fortnight ago defeated by a large 
party of Indians about 20 miles on this side of Fort Cumber- 
land, the Captain, Lieutenant, and 15 of the Detachment 
killed ; the rest retired to a little Fort that happened to 
be near the place where the Action happened. 

' Another party of Indians have been attacked by some 
Virginia Planters with better success. The Indians were 
commanded by a French Ensign who was killed, and in 
a little Bag that was tied about his neck were found some 
Instructions from the Commandant of Fort Du Quesne. 
We are told that a Party of French and Indians have lately 
attacked Oswego, but without success, and that they are 
again retired to Frontenac. The Regiment, we hear, are 
on their march for Oswego, and I hope the Provincials are 
also ere this in motion toward Crown Point.' 

On 7th June Colonel Webb arrived at New York after a 
passage of eight weeks, and about the same time came 
Colonel Abercrombie, who was to take command until 
Lord Loudoun's arrival. They left for Albany at once, 
and Governor Morris writes to Sharpe : ' There is to be an 
Intire Alteration in our friend Shirley's plans, but I much 
doubt whether such alteration will be for the better, and 
he is to be absolutely dismissed from all military affairs.' 



104 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Shirley's last letter to Sharpe is dated, New York, 13th 
July, in which he informs him that he had received two 
letters from the Right Hon. Mr. Fox, one acquainting him 
with the appointment of the Earl of Loudoun as com- 
mander-in-chief, the other stating that it had been repre- 
sented to the King that his, Shirley's, presence in England 
would be ' very useful and necessary to His Majesty's Ser- 
vice, as he could give many Lights and Informations relative 
to the State of Affairs in North America.' Poor Shirley 
continues : ' I have the pleasure of being acquainted in 
the former of these Letters that the Disposition His Majesty 
has thought proper to make of the command of his Forces 
in North America is not owing to any dissatisfaction with 
my Services ; but that on the contrary it is the King's 
intention to give me a new mark of his Royal Favour.' 

Benjamin Franklin says in his autobiography : ' Shirley 
was, I believe, sincerely glad of being relieved from so 
burdensome a charge as the conduct of an army must be 
to a man unacquainted with military business. I was at 
the entertainment given by the city of New York to Lord 
Loudoun for his taking upon him the command. Shirley, 
though thereby superseded, was present also. There was 
a great company of Officers, citizens, and strangers, and 
some chairs having been borrowed in the neighbourhood, 
there was one among them very low, which fell to the lot 
of Mr. Shirley. I sat by him, and perceiving it I said, 
" They have given you a very low seat." " No matter, 
Mr. Franklin," said he, " I find a low seat the easiest." ' 

Shirley returned to England early in the autumn to find, 
instead of rewards, a weary waiting for royal bounty 
grudgingly bestowed. At last in his old age he was made 
governor of the Bahamas, and passed altogether from the 
scene of his former triumphs and trials. 



SHIRLEY'S RECALL 105 

Governor Morris writes to Sharpe on the 12th June 1756 : 
' Finding no likelihood of agreeing with my perverse 
Assembly, and that for that reason I could not do the good 
I proposed and could wish to do in this troublesome station, 
I gave the Proprietors notice some time ago that I was 
grown quite tired of it, and was fully determined to resign, 
and desired they would send another gentleman to succeed 
me. In their last they tell me they had some Thoughts of 
appointing Mr. Thos. Pownall, and as I understand he is 
to come with Loudoun he may be expected every day, 
and I sincerely wish him more Success and Happiness in 
his Administration than I have had ; so that I have now 
a near prospect of being released and of returning to the 
desirable situation of a private gentleman, in which and 
every other capacity I shall always retain the highest regard 
and Esteem for you, dear Sir.' 

Mr. Pownall refused to take Pennsylvania, and ' one Mr. 
Denny, a gentleman of the army,' was appointed instead, 
Mr. Pownall becoming governor of Massachusetts. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Loudoun's arrival, 1756 

It was the 23rd of July when the new commander-in-chief 
arrived in New York. The Earl of Loudoun was not a 
distinguished soldier. He owed his present position to the 
friendship of Henry Fox and of Lord Halifax, President of 
the Board of Trade. He came determined to find fault 
with everything his predecessor had done, and his first 
act was to abandon the proposed expedition against Fort 
Frontenac and Niagara, and to announce his intention of 
proceeding at once against Ticonderoga, that fortress on 
Lake Champlain, known sometimes as Carillon. 

The first order he issued to the provincial troops was not 
one calculated to promote harmony. It was to the effect 
that all general and field officers with provincial commissions 
were to take rank only as captains when serving with regular 
troops. This caused almost a rebellion, and the general had 
to make some concessions before the wrath of the provincial 
officers was appeased. Another order which also produced 
great friction throughout the colonies was that troops were 
to be billeted on the inhabitants. ^ 

While bickerings were going on in the English camps and 
councils, the French were perfecting their plans for a descent 
upon Fort Oswego. Leaving de Levis to defend Ticon- 
deroga, Montcalm set off to Montreal, thence to Fort 

^ By an order in council the English Government had given authority 
to the generals in command to quarter soldiers on the inhabitants without 
the consent of the colonial assemblies. 
106 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 107 

Frontenac, with a force of about three thousand men, and 
an abundant supply of artillery. With him were a large 
number of Indians, some from the mission stations of 
Quebec, some from the far West. Rigaud, the brother of 
Governor Vaudreuil, was already at Niaoure Bay (Sackett's 
Harbour), and the regiment of Beam was on the way from 
Niagara to join in the attack. It was on the 4th of August 
that Montcalm crossed by night to Wolfe Island. He lay 
hidden there all the next day, and at nightfall again set 
off to join Rigaud on the opposite shore. On the 8th, all 
were united and in readiness for the attack. At midnight 
on the 9th of August they were within a mile of the English 
forts, whose occupants were all unconscious of their arrival. 
Not till dawn was the discovery made, and by that time 
the French had their guns in position on the shore. The 
English sent two armed vessels to attack the invaders, but 
their light guns were no match for the French artillery. 
In the three forts at Oswego all was confusion and dismay. 
Fort Ontario, which was considered the best of them, was 
a wooden structure garrisoned by about four hundred 
men, with eight cannon and a mortar. For a time they 
attempted a defence, but Colonel Mercer, the commandant 
at Fort Oswego, which was five hundred yards distant across 
the river, ordered them to abandon it under cover of night. 
Fort Oswego was almost as defenceless. It was of rough 
stone and clay, fit to resist musketry, but not heavy guns. 
A quarter of a mile away was another unfinished fort, 
named, on account of its poverty of construction. Fort 
Rascal. The garrison, which during the winter had been 
decimated by disease and starvation, was made up of raw 
recruits, labourers, and boatmen, and was in no condition 
to resist an attack. Montcalm soon had his guns in position 
on the hill of the abandoned fort, as on that side Fort 



108 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Oswego lay quite open. From behind a shelter of pork 
barrels the little garrison returned for a while the fire, but 
when Colonel Mercer was cut in two by a cannon shot, 
despair seized the defenders, and the white flag was raised. 
After the surrender came a scene of wild disorder, for the 
savage allies of the French, as was their wont, began butcher- 
ing their unhappy prisoners, until stopped by Montcalm, 
who had to promise them presents in the name of the king. 
Montcalm wrote to the minister : ' This will cost the King 
some 8 or 10,000 livres, but any amount of money I would 
have sacrificed, rather than there should be a stain on 
French honour resulting from this business.' 

The loss of this fortress gave the undisputed command of 
Lake Ontario to the French, and took away from the 
English any chance of attempting expeditions against 
Forts Frontenac and Niagara. The disaster had been 
occasioned by the fatal delay attending the movements of 
Webb and Abercrombie. For more than a month they 
had been idly awaiting orders, and it was not until the 
12th August that General Loudoun sent Webb forward 
with the 44th Regiment and some provincials to reinforce 
Oswego. On the way Webb heard the dismal news, where- 
upon he recklessly burned the forts at the ' Carrying place,' 
and retreated in haste to Albany. Colonel Winslow, who 
was on his way to Ticonderoga with his regiment of pro- 
vincials, was ordered back. So ended Loudoun's first 
disastrous campaign. 

On the 20th of August the commander-in-chief writes to 
Sharpe : 

' Sir, — I received last night accounts by which I appre- 
hend that Oswego with all its stores and Ammunition and 
the Train placed there is lost, the garrison made prisoners, 
and our naval power on the Lake destroyed. 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 175G 109 

' I must put you on your guard against every 111 conse- 
quence of such an unhappy Event, and as you may now 
expect the weight of the French and Indian Power on your 
back I must caution you to put your Frontiers immediately 
in the best posture of Defence you are able, as from the 
condition and number of the Troops left to me when I 
came to my command I can scarce hope to do more than 
to resist the French power in these Quarters.' 

Loudoun goes on to say that the Royal American Regi- 
ment of four battalions needed recruits ; that His Majesty 
had supplied the officers for the service of the colonies, and 
that the latter must supply the necessary levies to complete 
the regiment. 

Governor Dinwiddle writes to Sharpe from Williamsburg 
on the 2nd of September : ' Your letter of the 20th by the 
Express I received with the melancholy Account of the 
Loss of Oswego, the Vessels on Lake Ontario, and the Train 
of Artillery lodged in that Fortress, which is confirmed by 
Lord Loudoun's letter to me ; and I think he complains 
that Affairs were in great disorder on his arrival. The Loss 
of that important Place is extremely unlucky, and if we 
don't succeed against Crown Point, it 's more than probable 
we will lose all the Indians, and very likely they will come 
down the Ohio and invade these colonies. We are in a bad 
situation to repel their force, but it may be hoped that 
these Prospects may infuse a spirit of Resentment into our 
People to do at last what they should have begun with.' 

From Head-quarters, Albany, Sir John St. Clair writes 
to Sharpe on the 22nd of September, and his letter shows 
plainly that he blamed Shirley for the loss of Oswego : 
' What has happened to us by Mr. Shirley's conduct is 
enough to alter the nature of Man, nor do I find he has 
altered his way of thinking since he has been superseded. 



110 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

I am far from thinking myself out of harm's way this 
Campaign. If the French do but forbear their intended 
stroke eight days longer, I think we may give them a warm 
reception.' 

Now Sir John St. Clair anticipated being all winter in 
Albany, and knowing that Maryland was noted for both 
good wine and good horses, he asks his friend Sharpe to 
get him a few hampers of red wine, and also a very good 
horse. His letter ends with the usual compliments : ' You 
see I do not write to you as Governor of Maryland, but on 
all occasions I shall be glad to show my respect to you as 
such, and as a friend to convince you of the regard and 
esteem with which I am, dear Sir, Your most obedient and 
most humble servant, John St. Clair.' 

A letter from ex-Governor Morris to Sharpe gives his 
opinion as to the loss of Oswego : ' The loss of Oswego I 
esteem a very fatal blow to the British Interest on this 
Continent, and must be owing to the alterations made in 
the Plan of operations settled at New York, which with 
great submission to better judgments, I think could not 
be changed but for the worse. I find the New York scheme 
is to lay the blame of that affair upon General Shirley, but 
how just their censures are the following facts will show. 
General Webb arrived at New York June 7th. General 
Abercrombie arrived at New York on June 15th. Both 
arrived at Albany on the 25th. On the 26th of June, 
General Shirley acquainted General Abercrombie of the 
state of Oswego, and advised the sending two Battalions 
there. Col. Bradstreet returned to Albany on the 12th 
July, having thrown into Oswego six months' Provisions 
for five thousand men and a great quantity of Ammunition 
and Naval Stores ; and defeated a party of French and 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 111 

Indians on his way back. He informed General Aber- 
crombic that he had intelligence from his prisoners that a 
French army was in motion and designed to attack Oswego, 
whereupon the 44th Regt. was ordered to hold itself in 
readiness to march to Oswego. 

' Lord Loudoun arrived at New York July 23rd, and at 
Albany July 29th. It was not until the 12th of August 
that the Regiment moved with a number of Batteau men 
who had remained idle at Schenectady from the 1 1th July. 
It was on the 19th of August that General Webb, then at 
Burnet's Field, received the news of Oswego being taken. 
I have mentioned these facts that you might be satisfied 
of the truth with respect to that important loss.' 

One of the natural consequences of the war was to occa- 
sion a violent outbreak of hostility against the Roman 
Catholics. This spirit of fanaticism Sharpe endeavoured 
to restrain with his customary fairness. He writes to his 
brother John : ' I am now to communicate to you some- 
thing that more particularly relates to myself, and to desire 
your good Offices in case a set of people, whom I have some 
reason to suspect, should think proper to become my 
enemies. You may remember that I told you in a former 
Letter that the Roman Catholics were much dissatisfied 
at my having assented to the Act for granting a supply of 
£40,000 for His Majesty's Service, because it imposes a 
double Tax on the Lands of all Persons of that Persuasion. 
They are, I find, determined to apply to His Lordship or 
the King in Council for relief, and to remonstrate, by what 
I can find, against my conduct in assenting to the Bill. 
They have given out that one of my Brothers has engaged 
to espouse their Cause and to get the Act dissented to, but 
as you have never given me a Hint to that Purport, I am 
inclined to think they speak in such a manner with a Design 



112 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

to render me more suspected of favouring them than I 
am already. If they had Gratitude I think they would 
consider how I have contended with the Assembly in their 
Behalf ; I could have purchased many friends by giving 
them up, when, by acting a moderate part, I have given 
great offence to their inveterate ennemies. Their priests 
held large Tracts of Land among us ; and their Children 
are frequently sent to St. Omers for their education ; these 
are in my opinion great indulgences, such as are allowed 
in none of the Colonies but Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
I believe about one twelfth part of our Inhabitants are 
of that persuasion, and many of them are Persons of 
Considerable Fortune.' 

In November, Sharpe writes to Lord Baltimore that the 
last advices received from the northward were that the 
French army at Crown Point was much superior to that 
which Lord Loudoun had on Lake George, and that his 
Lordship was entrenching himself at Fort William 
Henry. 

A letter from Calvert to Sharpe, dated 16th December 
1756, conveys the information of the death of one of his 
brothers. He says : ' It is with real concern I write of the 
Death of your Brother John, who died last Fall at Bristol ; 
a great loss to our affairs. Your last packet to him is 
delivered to your Brother William.' 

The same letter contains the news of William Pitt being 
appointed Secretary of State in the place of Mr. Fox. 
Calvert says of the new secretary : ' He is a person deemed 
of peculiar Discernment. Great Expectations are estimated 
from his Abilities.' England was now certainly waking 
up to the importance of sending more men for the defence 
of the colonies, and the change of ministry brought more 
vigorous measures. The letter says : ' 24 Companies of 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 113 

Private men, and one Regiment from Ireland sailed last 
month for America ; and Transports are taken up for 
Ten or Eleven Regiments more. By a list the army is here 
49,749, I suppose including officers. Inclosed are Gazettes 
and Historical Magazines and Evening Posts as will inform 
you of Publick Affairs and the Change of Ministry. The 
Commons have voted 55,000 men for sea service, £1,213,746, 
3 sh. for payment of 49,749 men, and for guards and garrisons 
in Great Britain ; and £423,963, 16 sh. lOd. for the Forces 
and Garrisons in the Plantations and Gibraltar. By this 
Packet you have His Lordship's Commissions to you as 
Vice-Admiral of the Province.' 

It was not until the end of February 1757 that Horatio 
Sharpe received the news of his brother John's death in 
October of the preceding year. He writes to his brother 
Gregory on the 26th February from Philadelphia, where he 
had gone in obedience to a summons from the commander- 
in-chief : ' As no other opportunity of conveyance will 
probably offer for some time, I shall send this by the first 
Packet that might be despatched from New York, to let 
you know that the Letter which you writ from Bristol in 
October last reached me before I left Maryland, but not 
before our last vessels were sailed for London. The ship 
by which you sent it fell into the hands of an Ennemy, 
but the Master was afterwards suffered to ransom her and 
proceed on his Voyage, otherwise I should not till I arrived 
here, have been shocked with the news of my Brother's 
Death ; nor before this time have felt what I have there- 
upon already suffered. The loss to me is grievous and 
irreparable, but since I am persuaded that I have no reason 
to lament on his account, I will not repine at this Act of 
Providence on my own, but rather be grateful for the 
friends that survive to me, and think myself sufficiently 

H 



114 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

happy in not being yet destitute of Brothers that are truly 
entitled to that appellation.' 

Horatio Sharpe was one of a numerous family to whom 
he was deeply attached. His letters to his brothers show 
his affection for them. Their early home was in Yorkshire. 
John, whose death had just been announced, was one of 
the guardians of Frederick, Lord Baltimore ; had held 
various public offices, and was a member of Parliament for 
Collington. Gregory, to whom the letter is addressed, was 
the most celebrated. He was born in 1713, and graduated 
at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1738. He was a dis- 
tinguished Oriental scholar, and was the author of numerous 
books and pamphlets. In 1751 he entered Oxford as 
a professor. In 17G3 he became Master of the Temple, 
which office he held until his death in 1771. 

In Boswell's Life of Johnson it is recorded that on one 
occasion the celebrated lexicographer went to hear him 
preach. Maxwell, assistant preacher at the Temple, says : 
' He, Johnson, went with me one Sunday to hear my old 
master Gregory Sharpe preach at the Temple. In the 
prefatory prayer Sharpe ranted about liberty, as a blessing 
most fervently to be implored and its continuance prayed 
for. Johnson observed that our liberty was in no sort of 
danger ; he would have done much better to pray against 
our licentiousness.' 

Another brother was William, who was Horatio Sharpe's 
most constant correspondent. In 1756 he was appointed 
Keeper of the Council Records. The other brothers were, 
Philip, who appears also in the family correspondence ; 
and Joshua, who was an attorney and solicitor, and who 
seems to have been consulted on legal affairs connected 
with the province of Maryland. 

It was not only in the wilds of America that war was 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 115 

raging. All Europe was aflame. England and Prussia 
were pitted against Austria, Russia, France, Sweden, 
Saxony, and most of the German states in that bloody 
conflict known as the Seven Years War. It is little 
wonder that both France and England hesitated about 
sending troops across the Atlantic when they were needed 
much nearer home. However, Loudoun's unsuccessful 
campaign had awakened the English Government to the 
necessity of increasing their force in the colonies. 

A letter, dated 17th February 1757, to Sharpe from 
Calvert, brought the information that ten thousand troops 
had received their orders for America under convoy of six- 
teen line of battleships. It also contains the grim news 
that Admiral Byng was to be shot. It was on 14th March 
1757 that John Byng knelt for his death on the quarter- 
deck of his ship in Portsmouth harbour. He had been 
unsuccessful in an expedition to relieve Minorca, and fell 
a sacrifice to the unpopularity and incapacity of the ministry 
of the day. He was shot, in spite of the protests of Pitt 
and the unanimous recommendation to mercy by the court 
that condemned him. History has since done full justice 
to his memory. 

Lord Baltimore now seems to have been roused to a sense 
of the dangers to which Maryland was exposed, and on the 
7th April Calvert writes to Sharpe that he has shipped to 
him, on board the vessels Sally and Jolm and Anne, forty 
barrels of bullets and twenty barrels of gunpowder for the 
use of the province. This letter was long delayed for want 
of safe passage by convoy, so he adds, on 20th May, an 
account of the brilliant victory gained by the King of 
Prussia over the Austrians, and known in history as the 
Battle of Prague. He relates how His Majesty Frederick 
the Great passed over the Moldau with a small part of his 



116 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

army, and being joined by that under the command of 
Marshal Schwerin, determined to attack the enemy who 
were much superior in number of troops, and posted besides 
in an almost inaccessible camp ; how the Prussian officers 
and men vied with each other in passing defiles, in crossing 
marshes and seizing the rising ground, till at length, after 
a long and obstinate engagement, the enemy was forced to 
abandon the field of battle, leaving behind them the greater 
part of their artillery, all their tents, their baggage, and, in 
a word, their whole camp. Marshal Schwerin was killed, 
but the loss of the Austrians was greater not only in the 
number of the dead and Avounded, but also in the number 
of prisoners. The main body of the Austrians with the 
royal princes retired, and were shut up in Prague. 

Calvert also gives the names of the new coalition ministry, 
with his Grace of Newcastle First Lord of the Treasury, 
Lord Anson, First Lord of the Admiralty, Right Hon. 
Henry Fox, Paymaster of the Forces, and the great com- 
moner, Hon. William Pitt, Secretary of State. 

England, at home and abroad, was about to emerge from 
the clouds that had gathered round her ; and although 
Newcastle was the nominal head, it was Pitt on whom the 
nation relied, and who proved himself worthy of the trust. 
When Calvert wrote to Sharpe, however, all was still dark 
and gloomy. He ends his letter with : ' The issue of things 
bears Melancholy Presage. Pray God avert the Evil, and 
may all Happiness attend you.' 

Spring had now come, and Loudoun had determined 
secretly on his plan of campaign, which was no less than 
the capture of Louisbourg. He had obtained the consent 
of the English Government, and they had promised him the 
assistance of the fleet under Admiral Holbourne, and five 
thousand men. He expected that they would sail in April, 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 117 

and made all his preparations accordingly. He writes to 
Sharpe from New York on 5th May 1757 that he was 
leaving with the transports to join the fleet and reinforce- 
ments from Europe, He also tells him that Major-General 
Webb was to remain in command at Albany and the forts, 
with some regulars and troops raised in the northern 
colonies ; that Colonel Stanwix was to be in command 
of the Royal American Regiment, and the troops raised in 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Further south, in 
the Carolinas, Lieutenant-Colonel Bouquet was in command. 
His Majesty's orders were that the provincial troops should 
be entirely supported and maintained by the provinces by 
which they were raised. 

Sir John St. Clair, who had been desperately wounded 
in the Braddock disaster, was now invalided at New 
Brunswick in New Jersey, and writes to his friend Sharpe 
on the 18th April : ' The Phisicians have sent me to this 
place for the Air and to be out of the way of Business. 
They thought it dangerous for me to cross the sea in my 
situation, and they tell me that living on Vegetables and 
Milk with Moderate Exercise is the only chance I have 
for recovering. I am sure you will think it hard to have 
this sentence pronounced against me, and what appears 
strange to me is that I have neither Sickness nor pain, and 
I sleep and eat as I used to. I have entirely got into a 
scene of life new to me ; I hope I shall have temper enough 
to go through with it. I ride out twice a day in my Chariot. 
As for the rest of my time, I pass it away in doing nothing, 
and comfort myself with thinking I shall not live to be 
troublesome to mankind, as the Physicians say a few 
months will determine my fate. If it is decided in my 
favour I hope to see you in the Autumn, and I promise 
you a long visit.' St. Clair writes again on 6th May from 



118 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

New York : ' My being in the country for three weeks has 
so much recovered me that I have been able to return to 
this place to see how things are going on, and I propose 
staying until his Lordship sails, which I hope will be in ten 
Days at furthest. Our affairs are now carried on with 
spirit.' 

Loudoun was now waiting with the utmost impatience 
the news of the arrival of Admiral Holbourne and the 
English fleet, which, however, did not sail from Ports- 
mouth until the 5th May. Pitt's dismissal from office for 
eleven weeks at this period had again thrown political 
affairs in England into confusion, and was probably the cause 
of this unfortunate delay. In order to keep the expedition 
against Louisbourg a secret, Loudoun had laid an embargo 
on shipping, much to the annoyance of the different colonies. 

The whole success of the expedition depended on haste 
and secrecy, but during the tedious interval a spy in 
London informed the French of the proposed attack, and 
three French squadrons, consisting of twenty-two ships of 
the line and several frigates, were sent at once, under 
Admiral la Mothe to Louisbourg, which was also reinforced 
until the garrison numbered, it was said, seven thousand 
men. 

All unknowing of this, Loudoun at last set out from New 
York for Halifax on the 20th June, bearing Avith him the 
cream of the forces that should have been engaged against 
Vaudreuil and Montcalm on the lake frontiers. He arrived 
on the 30th, and not until the first week in July did Hol- 
bourne's ships come straggling in. On the 10th of July 
1757 all were at anchor before Halifax, and the troops were 
landed. More weeks were spent in inaction, and at last 
the fatal news came on the 4th of August of the over- 
whelming strength of the enemy at Louisbourg. The 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 119 

unfortunate Loudoun had to abandon his enterprise and 
return to New York baffled and disappointed. 

It does not seem fair to blame Loudoun for the mis- 
carriage of this affair, but his contemporaries seem to have 
thought him of a vacillating disposition. In his auto- 
biography, Franklin tells the following story of Lord 
Loudoun's indecision : ' Going one day to pay my respects 
I found in the antechamber one Innis, a messenger of 
Philadelphia, who had come thence express with a packet 
from Governor Denny for the General. He delivered to 
me some letters from my friends there, which occasioned 
my inquiring when he was to return to Philadelphia, and 
where he lodged, that I might send some letters by him. 
He told me he was ordered to call to-morrow at nine for the 
General's answer to the Governor, and should set ofi im- 
mediately. I put my letters into his hands the same day. 
A fortnight after, I met him again in the same place. " So, 
you are soon returned, Innis ? " " Returned ? No, I am 
not gone yet." " How so ? " "I have called here this and 
every morning, these two weeks past, for his lordship's 
letters, and they are not yet ready." " Is it possible, 
when he is so great a writer, for I see him constantly at his 
escritoir ? " "Yes," said Innis, "but he is like St. George 
on the signs, always on horseback, and never rides on." ' 

Admiral Holbourne with his fleet lingered for a while 
cruising off Louisbourg, hoping to draw out the enemy's 
ships, but in vain ; and, to add to his misfortunes, a furious 
storm wrecked some of his vessels, and he was obliged to 
sail away discomfited from the rocky coast of Cape Breton. 
In Loudoun's absence another blow fell, which filled to 
the brim his cup of disaster. As the best of the English 
troops had been taken away for the Louisbourg expedition, 
Montcalm thought it the most favourable time to strike a 



120 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

blow on the frontiers. From far and near he gathered his 
Indian alhes, until at Ticonderoga there was assembled a 
force of eight thousand men, white and red. At the end 
of July all was ready. De Levis set out by land with 
two thousand five hundred men — regulars, Canadians, and 
Indians. Montcalm followed with the rest by water. 
Their destination was Fort William Henry on Lake George, 
defended by Lieutenant-Colonel Munroe, of the 35th 
Regiment, with about two thousand men. Fourteen miles 
away, at Fort Edward, was Major-General Webb, whose 
force was now reduced to sixteen hundred men, as eight 
hundred provincials and two hundred regulars had been 
sent to reinforce Fort William Henry. Loudoun had been 
so intent on his own expedition to Louisbourg that he had 
failed to see the importance of defending his frontier posts. 
On the 3rd of August, Munroe sent an urgent letter to 
Webb, begging for more reinforcements, as his scouts had 
told him of the impending attack. Webb sent off expresses 
to Massachusetts and New York for help, but remained 
passive himself. 

Montcalm and de Levis had meanwhile arrived before the 
fort, almost at the same place where Dieskau had met with 
his fatal defeat at the hands of Johnson. They resolved 
to carry the entrenched camp and fort by assault. Mont- 
calm first demanded a capitulation, which was refused, and 
then he set the men at work to open trenches, while Munroe 
from the fort poured on them a heavy fire. At last the 
French batteries were completed, and now began a cannon- 
ade whose roar reached even the dull ears of Webb at Fort 
Edward. Poor Munroe had received an express from him 
on the 4th, saying : ' The General has ordered me to 
acquaint you he does not think it prudent to attempt a 
junction or to assist you till reinforced by the militia of the 



LOUDOUN'S ARRIVAL, 1756 121 

Colonies, for the immediate march of which repeated 
expresses have been sent.' This letter reached its destina- 
tion, though the bearer of it was killed on the way. Mont- 
calm kept it till the English fort was half battered down, 
and then sent it with a few graceful words to Munroe. Its 
contents were not encouraging. To add to the horrors of 
the siege, smallpox had broken out in the garrison. When, 
after four days' siege, more than three hundred men had 
been killed and wounded, and most of the guns disabled, 
it was decided by the officers in council that they would 
surrender. 

Montcalm, the soul of politeness, agreed that the English 
should march out with the honours of war, and be escorted 
in safety to Fort Edward ; that they should not serve for 
eighteen months ; and that all French prisoners captured 
since the beginning of the war should be given up. The 
stores and artillery were to be the prize of the victors. But, 
alas for Montcalm's well-meant mercy ! He could not 
restrain his savage allies. They were thirsting for blood 
and scalps, and fell on the helpless wounded and invalids 
left in the camp, and butchered them. They then followed 
the retreating column, wreaking their vengeance on the 
wounded, and dragging away and killing men, women and 
children. 

Montcalm, when he heard of the slaughter, tried to calm 
the frenzy of the savages. ' Kill me, but spare the English 
who are under my protection,' he cried ; but his efforts 
were in vain. At last, by the help of his chief officers, 
some sort of order was restored, and the unhappy fugitives 
were gathered again in the camp under the care of a strong 
guard, who, the next day, accompanied them to Fort 
Edward. The Indians, drunk with blood, set off the day 
after the massacre for Montreal, carrying with them about 



122 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

two hundred prisoners. The fort was now set on fire, and 
on the 16th of August the French army re-embarked, 
leaving behind them ruin and desolation. 

This was the state of affairs to which Loudoun returned 
from his fruitless expedition to Louisbourg. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE CHEROKEES 

A HUNDRED and fifty years ago, the French claimed the 
sovereignty of that vast area which stretched from Hudson 
Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, including the province of Canada 
and the province of Louisiana, whose western boundaries 
were limitless. Their settlements were few and far between, 
yet each settlement was a military centre, by which the 
Indians were kept in allegiance. The strip along the 
Atlantic coast held by England seemed insignificant in 
contrast to the broad domain claimed by the monarch of 
France, yet it was being rapidly settled by a population 
of varied elements, hardy, enterprising, and independent. 
It was certainly deficient in military organisation, as has 
already been shown, whereas every man in New France 
was a soldier, and one viceroy reigned over all the land. 
The instructions to this governor were precise and minute, 
and to ensure his carrying them out, there was another 
officer, called the intendant, whose business it was to 
travel about the colony, investigating the family affairs 
of every household, and to keep a watchful eye on the 
governor's actions. From 1755, Pierre Frangois, Marquis 
de Vaudreuil, was governor, and Bigot, of scandalous 
memory, was the intendant. 

If one regarded the number of inhabitants of the English 
colonies in comparison to the French, the disparity was 
enormous, for the former were about eleven hundred 
thousand, scattered along the Atlantic border, while the 

123 



124 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

latter numbered in 1755 only about sixty-six thousand souls. 
But the French had for allies, in a much larger number 
than the English could command, the Indians, those 
ruthless demons of the forest who stained with deeds of 
horror every engagement of this war. 

It cannot be said, though, that the English were averse 
to having their support. Every effort was made to con- 
ciliate them, and, what to modern ideas of civilisation seems 
monstrous, a bounty of fifty pounds was given to these 
savages by the English Government for every scalp brought 
in and delivered to them. In the southern colonies, the 
Cherokees, who lived on the borders of Virginia, were dis- 
posed to enlist in King George's service, but after the success 
of Montcalm at Oswego they, too, were wavering. 

Early in the spring of 1757, however, a body of them 
came to Fort Frederick to offer their services to Governor 
Sharpe. The following letter from their chief, Wahachy, 
is a curious specimen of Indian diplomacy. The Enghsh 
answer is given in the picturesque account written by John 
Ridout and Daniel Wolstenholme, who had been sent as 
ambassadors to Fort Frederick to meet the savage warriors : 

' Fort Frederick, 29//^ April 1757. 
' To the Governor of Maryland : 

' Brother of Maryland. This day I came into your Pro- 
vince, with a company of our nation, on our way to war 
against the French, Shawanese, and all their Indians, hearing 
they had killed some of our brothers, not knowing when we 
set off from Winchester but the murder was committed in 
Virginia ; but coming to this Fort, found we were in another 
Province ; and on being informed by Capt. Beall, that our 
brother, the Governor of this Province, had a real love for 
our nation, and that he had provided clothes for our nation, 



THE CHEROKEES 125 

though unacquainted with us, I have just now held a 
council with my young warriors, and have concluded to 
write to you, to acquaint you, our brother, our design of 
coming into this country, was, hearing from our good 
brother, the Governor of Virginia, that it was the desire of 
our father. King George, that we would join the English 
in war against the French and their Indians. On hearing 
this news we immediately took up the hatchet against the 
French and their Indians, and hold it fast till we make use 
of it, which I expect will be in a few days. We intend to 
set out immediately from this fort, and immediately on our 
return expect to meet you, our brother, here, to make 
ourselves acquainted with you. If you cannot come your- 
self, you will send one of your beloved men with your talk, 
which we will look upon as from your own mouth. I hope 
you will let the Province of Pennsylvania know that I am 
come this length to war, and if they are in need of our 
assistance, I have men plenty at home, and will not think 
it troublesome to come and fight for our brothers. I set 
ojff from home with 150 men, part of which are gone to Fort 
Cumberland ; forty more by this are come to Winchester. 
Our people will be so frequent among you, that I wish you 
may not think us troublesome. Our hearts ache to see our 
brothers' bones scattered about the country, but you will 
hear in a short time we have got satisfaction for our 
brothers, and in confirmation of what I have spoke, I have 
sent you these few white beads to confirm my regard to 
this Province. Likewise I have sent you these black beads, 
to convince you that I have taken up the hatchet against 
all the English enemies. We intend to stay as long amongst 
our brothers as there is use for us. I have sent j^ou a list 
of what is useful for us, and have got our good friend Mr. 
Ross to carry this letter to you, whom we shall always 



126 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

acknowledge as a particular friend to us. As we expect 
to see you soon, we will add no more at present ; but 
remain your loving brother, His 

' Wahachy X OF Keeway.' 
Mark. 

In answer, the governor sent with his commissioners, 
Messrs. Ridout and Wolstenholme, a wagon-load of presents, 
and also the sum of £100, which had been voted by the 
Assembly for the purpose of securing the services of the 
Cherokees. A much larger sum had been voted some time 
before, but the appropriation had been expended in raising, 
equipping, and paying five hundred men for the defence of 
the frontier. However, as the Cherokees had killed four 
hostile Indians while waiting for his answer, the governor 
had to furnish £200 worth of goods in payment for their 
scalps. 

The letter relating the adventure of the two young 
envoys gives a vivid picture of the manners and customs 
that then prevailed in dealing with the red man. 

' To His Excellency Horatio Sharpe Esq. Lieutenant 
Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of 
Maryland. 

' Sir, — Agreeable to the Instructions which We had the 
Honour to receive from your Excellency the 17th Instant, 
We proceeded the same Day towards Fort Frederick and 
reached that place on the 19th in the Afternoon. We were 
met about nine miles beyond Conegochiege by a party of 
the Cherokee Indians who escorted us to the Fort and 
when We came near the Gate drew up in a Rank and 
Saluted us. Wahachey their Chief then invited us to Smoke 
a Pipe with him and some of the Warriors that were in 



THE CHEROKEES 127 

greatest esteem. On our Accepting his Invitation he bad 
us Welcome and expressed great Satisfaction at our Arrival, 
he afterwards enquired how long We had been on the Road 
and what the Distance was between Fort Frederick and 
the place where the Governor resided. When we informed 
him that We had made the Journey in three Days they 
seemed to be surprized that they had not received an 
answer to their message sooner and observed that many 
Days had elapsed since your Excellency must have received 
it. We told them that when they sent their message you 
happened to be far from home, and that you had been 
obliged after your return home to send to Distant Parts 
of the Province for a Quantity of Goods to make them a 
present of, by reason that a proper assortment was not 
to be had in Annapolis nor in any one part of the Province ; 
With this answer they seemed to be well satisfied and only 
asked whether the Goods were yet collected and brought 
up. We told them that they may be expected in a Day 
or two and that whenever they came We should immediately 
advise them thereof. The Chief afterwards asked some 
questions about the Treaty which he said he had heard 
the Governor of Pensilvania was then holding with the 
Shawanese and Delawares at Lancaster, and expressed a 
good deal of Surprize at the Pensilvanians treating as 
Friends and making presents to a People with whom they 
were at open War, by whom they had been so cruelly used, 
and against whom the English had been and were still 
SoUiciting their (the Cherokees') assistance. Finding that 
what had been dropt about that Treaty had made an ill 
Impression on their Minds We intimated that the affair 
had been misrepresented to them, for that none but some 
of the six nations and of Certain Tribes of the Shawanese 
and Delewares who were in Amity with the English and 



128 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

who disapproved of the others Conduct were come to the 
Treaty of which they had heard. The Chief soon after 
ordered some of their young Men to bring down the two 
Indian Prisoners which they had taken and by way of 
Comphment obhged them to parade before us and to sing 
their Death Songs. The next Day we Invited the Chief 
and the principal Warriors to Dine with us, and after 
Dinner the Interpreter Capn. Pearis told them He under- 
stood that their Brother the Governor's present would be 
up the next Morning, and that he had made a Considerable 
addition to it as a reward for the Services they had done 
in destroying four and taking two of the Ennemy Prisoners, 
but that it was expected that they should deliver up the 
Prisoners and Scalps before they received the additional 
present such being the Custom here and what was required 
by the Laws of the Province. To this the Chief replyed 
with some warmth that he thought it would suffice to shew 
his Brother the Governor or those that he had sent to 
represent him, the Prisoners and the scalps of the Ennemies 
that they had destroyed, that it was the Indians' Custom 
to preserve as Trophies the Hair of the Ennemies that they 
killed in Battle and to carry them home to their own People, 
and in short that if they were not to have the Goods that 
had been talked of unless they would purchase them with 
their Prisoners or Scalps they would return home naked 
as they came thence, and that they would think no more 
of going to War if they were not allowed to keep what they 
set the highest value on as it procured them most Honour 
among their own People. As the Chief (for many of the 
others did not) appeared to be much displeased with the 
proposal that had been made or the Intimation that had 
been given him by Captain Pearis We desired the Interpreter 
to drop the affair, but as we were not at hberty to give 



THE CHEROKEES 129 

them a larger present than could be purchased with £100 
unless they would deliver up the Scalps to be destroyed 
agreeable to the Directions of the Act of Assembly and as 
we understood that so small a present as £100 would not 
be Acceptable, We desired Mr. Pearis the Interpreter to 
talk to them severally and to endeavour by any arguments 
that he should think fit to urge, to persuade them to give 
up some of the Scalps that we may be thereby enabled to 
make such an addition to the present given by the Assembly 
as might make it acceptable. In the morning of the 21st 
Instant he assured us that he had used his utmost Endeav- 
ours to procure us either the Prisoners or some Scalps, but 
that Wahachey the Chief continued obstinate and had 
declared that nothing should tempt him to part with the 
Prisoners, but that Yaughtanew the second in reputation 
and who was in fact much better affected than the other, 
had promised him to send the Scalps as a present to your 
Excellency afterwards, tho he could not deliver them up 
to be destroyed in such a manner as the Act Directs, lest 
he should be charged by his own People with Selling them. 
Upon this assurance We sent to Conegochiege for two 
hundred pounds Worth of Goods more, and as soon as 
they were brought up We advised the Indians thereof and 
desired to know if they would choose to receive them in 
the afternoon and to hear your Excellency's answer to the 
Message which they had sent you by Mr. Ross. Our 
proposal being accepted the Goods as well as those that 
were purchased with the one hundred pounds, the price 
of four Scalps, were after Dinner laid on a Table in two 
Separate parcels, and when all the Indians except a few 
who were left to guard the Prisoners were Assembled 
(Capn. Beall the Commandant of the Fort, Capn. Armstrong 
who was come thither from Pensilvania with a message 

I 



130 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

from Governor Denny to the Cherokees, and several other 
Officers of the Maryland and Pensylvania Troops being 
also present) we addressed ourselves to Wahachey the Chief 
saying that We were come thither by your order and that 
We were about to deliver your Excellency's answer to 
their message which answer Capn. Pearis would interpret 
to them, and then we proceeded. 

' " Brother Wahachey of Keeway and Brethren of the 
Cherokee Nation. I have received the Message which you 
sent by Mr. Ross to advise me of your being come to Fort 
Frederick, I rejoice at your arrival and bid you welcome 
by this String of Wampum [gave a string]. I have heard 
of your Fame and your good intentions towards us from 
your Brother of Virginia and have for a long time had a 
great desire to see you, but it happens that now you are 
come I am unable to meet you, this I am sorry for but 
I hope you will excuse me since I have sent Mr. Wolsten- 
holme and Mr. Ridout to communicate my Sentiments to 
you. I have appointed them because I know that they 
have a particular regard for you, and because I am Con- 
fident they will deliver my words faithfully ; They will in 
my name and on behalf of the People of Maryland make a 
league with you which I hope will last as long as the Sun 
and Moon shall endure, to confirm it I present you this 
Belt of Wampum [gave a Belt]. Brethren when Mr. Ross 
was with me I gave him orders to supply you with such 
Provisions as you should stand in need of. As a farther 
mark of my Friendship towards you I have now sent you 
a present [pointing to that of one hundred pounds Value], 
was it in my power I would send you a larger, but as it is 
not I hope you will not consider the value of the present 
so much as the inclination of him that sends it. 

' " Brethren now we have made a League of Friendship 



THE CHEROKEES 131 

and are known to each other I will speak to you more freely 
on the purpose for which you are come. You say that your 
good Brother the Governor of Virginia has signified to you 
that our Father King George desires you will joyn the 
English and declare War against the French and their 
Indians who without any just cause or provocation have 
fallen upon our People and Scattered their Bones over the 
Country. You also tell me that upon our Father's pleasure 
being made known to you, you have taken up the Hatchet 
against our Ennemies and that you will hold it fast till 
you have used it against the French and the Indians in 
their Alliance ; I am well pleased that you have already 
taken such a resolution. I hope you will soon make our 
Ennemies sensible of it and that you will prosecute the 
War Vigorously against them, to make your Hatchet Sharp 
and to fasten it in your Hands I present you with this 
String of black Wampum [gave a string]. 

' " You were told, you say, when you came to Fort 
Frederick, that you were no longer in Virginia but in another 
Province. This was true, but I must observe to you that 
We and the Virginians are nevertheless one People. The 
Inhabitants of Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pensylvania 
and of all the Provinces to the Northward are Brethren, 
Subjects of the same great King, and they that are Friends 
to some of us must be Friends to all. You are then the 
Friends of all. Let us become one People and unite against 
the French and their Indians our Ennemies. Let our Men 
go out to War with you. Look on them as your Brethren. 
Teach them to fight after your manner, and then neither 
the French nor their Allies will be able to stand before you. 
For your Encouragement and as a reward for those that 
fight bravely I will give you a present as large as that 
which I have now sent you [pointing to the small parcell] 



132 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

for every two Ennemies that you shall take Prisoners and 
deliver up to me or that you shall kill and bring me the 
Scalps of, or I will give you the value thereof in money. 
Let this sink deep into the minds of your young men and 
let them remember my promise in the Day of Battle. I 
have ordered Capn. Beall who commands at Fort Frederick 
and the Officer that commands the men at Fort Cumberland 
to receive and at all times Treat you and those of your 
nation that shall join you as Brethren and as my best 
Friends. I have also notified your Arrival to your Brother 
the Governor of Pensylvania ; in this I hope I have done 
according to your desire and that the words which I have 
spoken are agreeable to you, to Confirm the truth of 
them and to Convince you that they flow from my Heart, 
I give you this Belt [gave a Belt] and the answer in Writing." 

' After a short pause, We addressed Ourselves to them 
again and spoke to the following purport : 

' " Brethren you have heard your Brother the Governor's 
answer to your Message, you have also seen the present 
which he sent you as a mark of his Friendship and to wel- 
come you to this Province, we are now to Congratulate 
you in his name on the Success which you have lately had 
against his and your Ennemies. He was exceedingly pleased 
with the news, and for the Service you have already done 
he has ordered us to give you these Goods [pointing to the 
large parcell] ; Brethren now you have found where the 
Ennemy is to be met with, We hope you will not suffer 
them to escape but on the Contrary that you will pursue and 
overtake them and destroy till none of them remain. To in- 
spire you with such a Resolution your Brother the Governor 
sends you this String [gave a String of black Wampum]." 

' After a few Minutes, Wahachey rose up and said he had 
heard good words, and then stepping up on one of the 



THE CHEROKEES 133 

Seats that were round the Table he harangued his People 
a Considerable time, repeating as we were told by the 
Interpreter the substance of what We had said and Con- 
cluding with an Exhortation to the young Men to look on 
the English and on the People of this Province in Par- 
ticular as their Friends and Brethren, to fight bravely for 
them against the Ennemies that had attacked them, and 
to entitle themselves to the present that had been promised 
as a reward for their Valour. They then proceeded to 
divide the Goods and We retired, having first desired the 
Commandant of the Fort to order Sentries to the Door to 
prevent the Intrusion of any White People. 

' An Account being brought to the Fort in the Evening 
that several Moccoson Tracks had been discovered a few 
Miles off on the South side of Potowmack River, and the 
Indians being informed thereof they sent to us early in the 
Morning of the 22nd Instant saying they were very impatient 
to pursue the Indians that had as it was Supposed made 
the abovementioned Tracks, and that they hoped We 
would meet them as soon as possible and hear the reply 
that they intended to make to their Brother the Governor. 
We immediately complied with their request, and as soon 
as We were seated the Chief expressed himself in the follow- 
ing words : "I am now going to reply to the Governor of 
Maryland, but as I do not understand making Beads I 
shall send him nothing but Paper. Brother, while I was 
coming from home my thoughts were very bad. I was 
enraged against the Ennemy who have been Murthering 
my Bretheren, but now I have been out and killed some 
of them I am better Satisfied in my mind. My Brother the 
Governor of this Province has sent us this Belt [holding in 
his Hand the Belt that was first given him the Day before] 
to welcome us hither and to open a Path from my Country. 



134 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

This shall be done ; at present it is only a small Track, 
but I will make it a large Path. All my young Men have 
taken hold of this Belt, they are determined to make the 
Path Broad, and will take care that there be no blood shed 
upon it ; I will keep this Belt to remind our young Men 
to Freshen the Track and I will immediately send ofi to 
my Nation that they may see these Belts [holding up all 
the Belts and Strings that had been given him] and know 
how kindly We have been received and treated in this 
Province. I will also send them a speech and invite them 
hither to go out to War with us and to receive presents as 
we have done. These are not only my own Sentiments 
and my own Resolutions, but all the young Warriors that 
are with me agree with me and are come to the same Deter- 
mination. This String [holding up the black String] that 
was first given, my Brother the Governor sent to Sharpen 
my Hatchet ; he may depend on our doing so therewith, 
and that We will always have it Stained with the Blood 
of the Ennemy ; the very sight of this String makes me 
angry with them, they have often sent to me calling me 
their Father, but I looked on them with disdain and as 
Ennemies. My talk with the Governor of Maryland shall 
be always Straight. I shall never deal double with him 
and I hope his Language to us will be always Straight and 
true." Then, holding up the Black String that was last 
given, he said : "I received this yesterday with a speech 
to invite me to War, which I receive as if it came from our 
Father King George, the Governor our Brother having sent 
you to deliver it, and you may be assured that so long as 
King George will furnish us with Cloathes, I will continue 
to Destroy his and our Ennemies. I have been a long 
time here to War, and having killed a few of the Ennemy 
have received a small present, but when I come this way 
again with my People I will kill more of the Ennemy and 



THE CHEROKEES 135 

hope to receive a larger Present, I hope our Father King 
George will take care to furnish us with Cloaths, and I 
desire he might be informed of what I have already done 
and of what I intend to do." 

' The young Warrior called Yaughtanew then put into 
his Hand the Scalps which he had promised us and holding 
them up to Wahachey proceeded : "When I came to Win- 
chester I heard that the Ennemy was murthering People 
in this Province, the news made my Heart ache and I 
immediately pursued and came up with them. I have 
killed some of them, and to shew the Governor my Brother 
that I have destroyed some of his and my Ennemies I send 
him this Hair for which I expect my Brother will thank 
me" [gave the scalps]. He then signed the answer as it 
was taken down, and the Interpreter certified it to be a 
true Interpretation as your Excellency will see by the 
Original herewith presented. After he had done speaking 
we thanked him in a few words for the reply he had made 
and the Hair which he had given, and concluded with telling 
them that you would look on the Latter as a Testimony 
of their Bravery and memorial of their Friendship. As 
soon as we had finished, Capn. Armstrong and the other 
Gentlemen who were sent by Governor Denny to invite 
the Cherokees to Pensilvania delivered their Message, and 
Yaughtanew the second Warrior gave them a Short Answer. 
The Indians soon after took their leave appearing well 
Satisfied and went over to Virginia carrying their two 
Prisoners with them. We also left the Fort the same Day, 
and returned towards Annapolis to Inform your Excellency 
of our proceedings, and to assure you That we are Your 
Excellency's Most Humble and Most Obedient Servts., 

' Danl. Wolstenholme. 

' J. RiDOUT. 

' The 25th oS May 1757.' 



CHAPTER X 

Loudoun's recall 

Colonel Sharpe was in great distress about provisioning 
the troops he had raised, who were to be stationed at Fort 
Cumberland. The Assembly had flatly refused to provide 
supplies, and the perplexed governor wrote on the 20th of 
October to Lord Loudoun, entreating him to send orders 
as soon as possible to Colonel Stanwix about the matter, 
as he feared he would not be able to keep the men together 
as soon as they heard the resolution of the Assembly. The 
number of soldiers in the pay of the province, so the 
Assembly said, must be reduced to three hundred ; and none 
should be sent to Fort Cumberland but must garrison 
Fort Frederick and patrol near the settlements. The poor 
governor, in order to prevent the fort being abandoned 
for want of food, supplied the immediate wants from his 
own purse. 

As to the contumacious Assembly of Maryland, Lord 
Loudoun writes to him : ' Your Assembly in this case have 
taken a step that tended to subvert all Government, and 
at once to throw off all submission to the Mother Country. 
I need not say to you how fatal the example may be if it 
cannot be stopped here till the King's Ministers are informed 
of the situation, and have time to apply a proper Remedy 
to the Evil that is of so dangerous a Nature, in this so 
extensive a Country, inhabited by people of such a variety 
of Religions, and so far removed from the centre of Govern- 
ment in the Mother Country.' 

136 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 137 

Colonel Sharpe wrote to Calvert and told him what the 
Assembly proposed ; namely, to grant twenty thousand 
dollars for the support of three hundred men for the im- 
mediate protection of the frontier. He says : ' The Money, 
I am told, is to be raised by a Tax on all Real and Per- 
sonal estates on offices, Professions, His Lordship's Quit 
Rents and Ecclesiastical Reforms. The tax is to be laid 
by assessors, appointed by certain Commissioners whom 
the People are to choose, and the Troops to be in fact 
under the Command of Nobody but the Agent. 

' If the Parliament should, in consequence of the Earl 
of Loudoun's Representation, take the Conduct of our 
Assembly as well as the proceedings of a neighbouring 
one, under consideration, and ease them of the trouble of 
framing Supply Bills by making some for them, you will 
be pleased to remember that no considerable sum of money, 
except from the Duty on Tobacco, has ever been raised 
in this Province otherwise than by a Poll Tax, that as the 
People have been always accustomed to that mode of 
Taxation, they all prefer it, except some few Leading men 
of the Assembly who desire nothing more than to throw 
things into confusion.' 

Lord Colville was now appointed commander-in-chief 
of His Majesty's ships and vessels in North America, and 
wrote to Sharpe begging him for a supply of seamen 
to recruit the ships then in Halifax harbour, which were 
the Northumberland, Sutherland, Terrible, Kingston, Oxford, 
Arc-en-Ciel (a recent capture). Defiance, and Somerset. The 
governor, who was unable to obtain the necessary recruits 
for the land service, was obliged to write a polite refusal. 
He also wrote to William Pitt saying he had placed the 
admiral's demand before the Assembly, but their answer 
was that it was not in their power to comply with the 



138 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

request ; that the trade of the province would be entirely 
ruined if any more seamen should be taken away. 

The death of Sir John St. Clair having been reported 
from Albany, Governor Dinwiddie writes to Sharpe lament- 
ing the loss of a valuable man and a good officer ; but a 
little while after a letter from Sir John himself brought 
the good news of his recovery. He writes from Phila- 
delphia : ' Finding an express going to you I have just 
time to tell you that I have not forgot the good Advice 
you have often given me in coming to pay you a visit at 
Annapolis. I have got over a most severe fever which had 
very near sent me to the other world, and by the advice 
of the doctor I came to this place to take a passage to Lisbon, 
lest I should get into a consumption. I have many things 
to mention to you which I shall have the pleasure of doing 
on Sunday next if the weather is good. I shall leave this 
to-morrow, Tuesday, and make small journeys by Baltimore 
until I reach you, but after a few days rest I am afraid 
the cold will drive me southward. I know nothing of Lord 
Loudoun's motions.' 

Lord Loudoun had written in November to Sharpe most 
seriously protesting against the action of the Maryland 
Assembly in refusing to provide for the five hundred men 
enlisted the year before for service in the frontier garrisons. 
He continues : ' As to their disposing of the troops in the 
winter I have the King's Commission to command all men 
that are or shall be in Arms in North America. I am on 
the spot, and whilst the King does me the Honour to con- 
tinue that commission to me I will execute it, and if any 
Officer or Soldier presumes to disobey my orders, I will 
treat him as the Law directs.' Lord Loudoun, in con- 
clusion, begged the governor to take every measure to 
bring his Assembly to a right understanding. 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 139 

This severe letter was accompanied by a private one, 
saying that so important did he hold the position of Fort 
Cumberland, that he would not trust altogether to the 
Assembly of Maryland coming to a right judgment on that 
point, but had ordered Colonel Stanwix to collect as many 
of the Virginian troops as possible to march, and garrison 
the fort ; and if they should be infected with the spirit 
of the Maryland Assembly, that then he should occupy it 
with a number of the King's regulars, and, in the meantime, 
he had ordered the contractor for provisions to dispatch 
a proper person to Colonel Stanwix to receive his orders 
as to victualling the post. 

These orders go to show that Lord Loudoun was taking 
a particular interest in the preparations for the winter, 
all unknowing that letters were on their way to deprive 
him of his command. 

The Assembly was still sitting at the end of November, 
and Sharpe sent the commander-in-chief a copy of the 
mihtary part of the Bill which they had sent to the Upper 
House, in which they insisted that the soldiers should only 
garrison Fort Frederick, and also reduced the captains' pay 
from 12s. 6d. currency to 8s. lOd. Sharpe continued : 
' They themselves have the conscience to receive for serving 
their country in assembly, at the rate of 14s. a day each, 
besides Travelling Expenses, so that the Taxes which have 
been levied on the People of the Province to pay the Assem- 
bly for sitting, since the war was first begun in America, 
amounts to at least a fifth part of the money that has been 
granted here for His Majesty's Service ; which consideration 
is a sufficient reason why every person among us should 
desire to see the Parliament of Great Britain interpose, 
and compel us to pay towards carrying on the War as 
much as should be judged our reasonable quota.' 



140 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Dinwiddle was now about to leave Virginia for England, 
and Sharpe promised to send him an account of the action 
of the burgesses that would afford him some amusement 
after he has turned his back ' on us poor governors and all 
American Assemblies.' The Assembly seems also to have 
found fault with the governor for having provided himself 
with the luxury of a secretary, but if one may judge by his 
voluminous correspondence no man ever had more need 
of one. Sharpe says : ' They have thought proper to ask 
what necessity I can have for a Secretary, and to insist 
that if I employ any gentleman under that or any other 
title to write for me, they will compel him to appear at the 
bar of the House and to answer all such questions as they 
shall out of Curiosity or in their Discretion be pleased to 
put to him.' 

Truly, the position of an English governor in the colonies 
was not an enviable one ! In Sharpe's letter to Calvert, 
referring to the resolution of the Lower House restricting 
the service of the troops to Fort Frederick, he says : ' Tho' 
the money proposed to be raised was said to be granted 
for the support of Troops for His Majesty's Service, yet 
that by restraining the service of those troops to a par- 
ticular spot. His Majesty's Service must be in fact cramped 
and retarded, while the King's undoubted prerogative was 
most presumptuously invaded.' 

There was great dissatisfaction in Annapolis at the close 
of the year 1757 on account of the quartering of the troops 
on the inhabitants by order of the commander-in-chief. 
In order to punish the Assembly, Lord Loudoun quartered 
five companies of the Royal Americans upon the citizens 
of Annapolis. This roused the wrath of the inhabitants, 
and was a grievance that served to embitter the relations 
between the province and the mother country. Sharpe 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 141 

remonstrated, urging that the citizens had done no harm, 
and the punishment fell upon them, instead of the bur- 
gesses. In spite of this argument, Loudoun was obstinate, 
and the unwelcome guests remained in Annapolis until the 
end of March 1758. Among the Swiss officers who had 
been sent out in the course of the war was Colonel Haldi- 
mand, and a letter from him in quaint French to Sharpe 
shows that he much enjoyed the hospitalities of Annapolis 
during this winter. It is written from Philadelphia, 31st 
of March 1758 : 

COL. HALDIMAND TO SHARPE 

' Monsieur, — A mon arrivee icy, je trouvay le Brigadier 
Stanwix, a qui je remis Votre lettre ; en lui faisant les 
details dont Vous m'avaies Charge, il etoit Sur Son depart 
pour N. Yorck, bien resolu de representer au General, la 
situation de vos forts, et les difficultes que vous aves k 
Surmonter, je ne doutte point Mons'r qu'il ne vous procure 
une reponse Sattisfaisante. 

' Le Brigadier Forbes est attendu icy dans 8 jours avec 
Sr. John St. Clair, qui Sera de Son Expedition ; On dit que 
les 5 Compagnies du Ld Bait, avec le Regim't de Mont- 
gomery en formeront les trouppes reglees. 

' On Conte beaucoup Sur les Provintieaux et les Indiens ; 
je Souhaitte qu'on ne se trompe pas, et qu'Elles arivent a 
temps.' 

' Les 5, Compagnies du Brigr Stanvix sont encorre a 
Lancaster, et attendent tous les jours des ordres pour le 
suivre. 

' J'ay trouve icy un Ordre D'Ambarquer le 35 Regimt Avec 
le notre, le plustot possible, mais je ne vols pas que nous 
puissions le faire avant une 12ne de jours, les Quakres sent 
des Animeaux tropp lent, et remplis de trop de difficultes. 



142 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

' Deux Regiments sont deja passes a Rod Island, d'ou ils 
marcheront a Boston pour y etre Ambarques, d'autres sont 
deja partis pour Albany, mais je n'ay point de details 
Certains. Je suis seulm't Charme de voir qu'on se mette de 
bonne heure en mouvement. La Province de N. Yorck, 
Messieurs DeLancy a la tete, fait des merveilles. 

' On assure qu'il ne Viendra que 3 Regiments d'Europe, 
j'ay peine a le croire. 

' Permettez Monsr que je vous remercie encorre de toutes 
vos Politesses ; S'il se presente quelque chose d'interessant 
dans les Brouillards ou je Suis destine, je me feray un 
plaisir de vous I'apprendre. Esperant que Vous Voudrez 
bien me faire part du succes de Votre Expedition. 

' J'ay I'honneur d'etre avec une parfaitte Consideration, 
Monsieur, Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, 

' Fe. Haldimand. 

' P.S, — J'offre mes Complimts a Monr. Rydhout, et le 
prie de vouloir presenter mes respects a la belle Veuve et 
aux autres Dames, avec mes Obeissance, aux Messieurs je 
leur reste redevable de bien des Pohtesses. 

' Le Col. Tasker ne sera pas surpris d'apprendre que 
Nantzy est tou jours aimable, et il Sera Charme de Savoir 
que Sa derniere maladie la Ambelie.' 

Letter, 
haldimand to sharpe. 

Philadelphia, Blst March 1758. 

On my arrival here I found Brigadier Stanwix, to whom I presented 
your letter giving him the details with which you charged me. He was 
about to set off for New York resolved to represent strongly to the General 
the situation of your forts and the difficulties that you have had to surmount. 
I do not doubt, sir, that he will procure for you a satisfactory answer. 

Brigadier Forbes is expected here in a week with Sir John St. Clair, 
who will be with his expedition. They say that five companies of Lord 
Baltimore's, with Montgomery's Regiment, will compose the regular troops. 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 143 

They count much upon the Provincials and the Indians. I hope they may 
not be mistaken, and that they will arrive in time. Five of Brigadier 
Stanwix's companies are still in Lancaster and expect every day orders to 
follow him. I have found here an order to embark the 35th Regt. with 
ours as soon as possible, but I do not see that we can do so before twelve 
days. Quakers are very slow animals and full of too many difficulties. 
Two Regiments have already passed to Rhode Island whence they will 
march to Boston to embark there. Others have already set off for Albany, 
but I know no certain details. I am only charmed to see they are 
getting early into movement. The Province of New York, Mr. DeLancy 
at its head, is doing marvels. They say only three Regiments will come 
from Europe ; I can hardly believe it. 

Permit me, sir, to thank you again for all your attentions. If anything 
presents itself of interest to you in the fogs for which I am destined, I will 
be pleased to let you know. I send my regards to Mr. Ridout and beg him 
to present my respects to the pretty widow, and to the other ladies, with 
my compliments to the gentlemen to whom I owe so many favours. 

Colonel Tasker will not be surprised to learn that Nancy is quite amiable, 
and that her last indisposition has rather improved her. 

One is curious to know who was ' la belle veuve,' and one 
cannot help identifying her with the little widow, Mrs. 
Martha Custis, who this year captivated George Washington. 

The writer of this letter, Frederick Haldimand, was 
destined to play an important part for many years in His 
Majesty's domains in North America. He was a native 
of Berne, Switzerland. As a youth he entered into the 
service of the King of Sardinia, and then served in the army 
of the great Frederick of Prussia. In 1754 he entered the 
British army, and, with his friend Bouquet, was sent to 
America to serve as colonel in the Royal American Regi- 
ment, which had just been raised, and which was drafted 
principally from Swiss and German settlers in America. 
He greatly distinguished himself during the war, especially 
at Ticonderoga, and afterwards at Oswego and Montreal. 
In after times he was for six years governor of the Canada 
he had helped to win for the Crown. 

The first ofiicial announcement of Lord Loudoun's retire- 
ment came this month. On the 4th of March the Squirrel, 



144 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

ship of war, brought letters to say that the king had judged 
proper that the Earl of Loudoun should return to England, 
and that His Majesty had appointed General Abercrombie 
to succeed his Lordship as Commander-in-Chief of the 
King's Forces in North America. 

A characteristic letter from Secretary Calvert to Governor 
Sharpe gives an epitome of the news. It is dated London, 
12th January 1758 : 

' Our squadron of 14 of the Line under command of 
Admiral Boscawen, Col. Anstruthers and Colonel Amhersts 
Regiments take departure the 18th instant for Halifax, 
where they join eight of the Line, and then to attack 
Louisbourg. Lord Loudoun is recalled, giving no content. 
Maj. -General Abercrombie appointed in his stead. Colonel 
Amherst to command the Expedition to Louisbourg. 
General Webb ordered home — disliked. They speak of 
Brigadier Generals to be made, who are to command 
separately in America the Force which it is said will be 
greatly augmented by Provincial Forces raised on a new 
plan. 'Tis hoped to better end than the force has yielded 
hence, which like Beef Stake has been sent hot and hot, 
but to little purpose, English Beef having greatly fallen as 
to Substance and Heart.' 

That the recall of Loudoun was not altogether satisfactory 
in America is evidenced by letters from Sir John St. Clair. 
He writes to Sharpe on 20th March from New York : ' In 
all this unexpected revolution of our Mihtary affairs you 
will certainly be curious to know what has become of your 
old friend and well wisher. If I am not much deceived, 
I may rank you amongst the number of those who regret 
our general loss ; if you do not you will be one of few, and 
in d d bad company to the bargain.' 

Sharpe's answer was : 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 145 

' Dear Sir, — I neither converse with nor hear of any 
Persons that entertain different Sentiments from your own 
with regard to the late sudden and surprising Revolution. 
Those that are least concerned thereat say 'tis highly proper 
the Customs and People of America should be better known 
in England than they are at present, and that no one can 
communicate such knowledge to those that want it so well 
as the Person that is best acquainted with both. I am 
glad however that some of those you regard and esteem are 
left behind. 

' By the time that our Assembly breaks up it is likely you 
will be on the Frontiers of Maryland. In that case you 
may expect a visit from me, but a journey to Philadelphia 
is really what I cannot think of, though I would most 
readily take a much longer one if I could thereby contribute 
in the least degree to the success of the Expedition you are 
about to engage on.' 

The wine question was again discussed, and Governor 
Sharpe assured Sir John that if he could not be supplied 
with tolerable wine at Philadelphia he will endeavour to 
get what he wants in the Province of Maryland ; but, he 
writes, ' it will be out of my power to send you such Madeira 
as 3^ou had at Fort Cumberland. I have a Hhd of Prize 
Claret at my Command, which, if it be agreable to you, 
shall be bottled and sent to Fort Frederick.' 

The baronet, who seems somewhat of a gourmand as to 
his supply of wine, is further informed some time after- 
wards that the pipe of Madeira wine he had ordered was 
safely in the governor's cellar, and as soon as it was in fine 
condition it would be drawn off and conveyed to Fort 
Frederick. 

Brigadier-General Forbes had now charge of the expedi- 
tion against Fort Duquesne. The defence of the south- 

K 



146 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

western frontier had been for months conducted by Washing- 
ton, who with his scanty force (a single regiment) had kept 
the savages at bay. He had vainly tried to get up an 
expedition to attack the French stronghold on the Mononga- 
hela, but Loudoun had been too engrossed by his expedition 
against Louisbourg, and had ignored the importance of 
winning this post, which was made the centre and starting- 
point for all the depredations committed on the frontiers 
of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. 

It was the month of July 1758 before Forbes could 
complete the preparations for the advance. His force 
consisted of about seven thousand men, including two 
Highland regiments, about five hundred Marylanders under 
Colonel Dagworthy, and the Virginia Regiment under 
Colonel Washington. 

As soon as Sharpe heard at Annapolis of the order for 
the advance, he set out with about two hundred men to 
garrison Fort Cumberland, which was about to be vacated 
by Washington. In spite of the adverse resolutions of his 
Assembly, Sharpe, with his customary vigour, had gathered 
some companies of militia from Calvert, Kent, Baltimore, 
Charles and Prince George's Counties, and placed himself 
at their head. 

A little correspondence between George Washington and 
Colonel Bouquet reveals the former's character for punctili- 
ousness in the smallest matters which characterised him in 
after years. He writes on 21st August from Fort Cumber- 
land : ' Governor Sharpe may be expected here in a day or 
two. I am at a loss to know how he ranks, and whether 
he is entitled to the command. In the British army his 
rank is that of lieutenant-colonel only ; but what it may 
be as Governor in his own Province I really do not know ; 
nor whether he has any, out of the troops in his Province. 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 147 

I should therefore be glad of your advice, being unwilling 
to dispute the point with him wrongfully, or to give up the 
command if I have a right to it.' 

Bouquet replied ' that the Governors in America had no 
command of the troops, even in their own Province, when 
they are joined with any other of His Majesty's forces, unless 
they have a commission from the commander-in-chief for 
that purpose.' 

The new plan for raising troops spoken of by Secretary 
Calvert was, that the Crown would provide arms, ammuni- 
tion, tents, and provisions for the colonial levies ; the 
Colonies had only to raise, pay, and clothe them, and for 
these expenses it was promised that the English Govern- 
ment would reimburse them. 

The man to whose command had been entrusted the 
expedition against Fort Duquesne was well fitted for the 
task. Brigadier-General John Forbes was a Scotsman of 
determined character, and possessing the qualities of tact 
and caution which his predecessor Braddock had lacked. 
His little army of about six thousand men was composed of 
twelve hundred Highlanders, Montgomery's Regiment, and 
Provincials from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and 
North Carolina, who were raw troops, whose chief recom- 
mendation was their knowledge of woodcraft. The general 
was fortunate in having to assist him such men as Colonels 
Washington, Montgomery, and Bouquet, though the former 
did not possess the absolute confidence of his chief. 

A letter from Forbes to Sharpe amply proves that the 
former was not bound by the hard and fast lines of military 
precedent that had been the undoing of General Braddock. 
He begs in his letter that the officers and soldiers employed 
for this service be able-bodied, good men, capable of endur- 
ing fatigue, and that their arms be the best that can be found 



118 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

in the province. He also asks the province to send twenty 
or thirty men, mounted upon light serviceable horses, and 
every way accoutred to serve in conjunction with these 
furnished by the other provinces as a body of Light Horse. 
He also directed Governor Sharpe to form a company of 
rangers ' from his properest men who are used to Woods 
and Hunting,' and to see that they have good officers who 
know all the country to conduct them. 

One more thing he suggests which proved that his ideas 
about uniforms were akin to those of the present day. He 
says, ' as there is sometimes a great deal of time lost in 
Cloathing and furnishing Provincial troops, a good man 
in any Cloathes, and a Blanket, may well answer the pur- 
poses required of him.' 

The troublesome Assembly still stood in Sharpe's way as 
to the raising and equipment of the men required. Forbes 
writes to him on 3rd May : ' I am extremely sorry that the 
animosities betwixt your upper and lower House should 
prove of so fatal a consequence as to obstruct the King's 
measures at this so critical a time for the whole continent 
of North America. Can the gentlemen that compose these 
Houses imagine that His Majesty and the whole People of 
Great Britain will be blind to their behaviour upon this so 
urging and pressing an occasion, and can they imagine that 
a great nation drained to the last in the protection and 
defence of those Provinces and Colonies will forgive and 
forget the being abandoned by any of them in this critical 
time of public Calamity and Distress ? I shall be sorry to 
let it enter my thoughts that they are not to act as good 
and Loyal Subjects ought to do, because it would grieve me 
much to think that we had ever cherished and protected 
concealed enemies, infinitel}^ more dangerous than the most 
open and declared ones.' 



LOUDOUN'S RECALL 149 

While Forbes was endeavouring to get ready for his 
march on Fort Duquesne, Admiral Boscawen's fleet had 
arrived off Halifax, and Jeffrey, Lord Amherst, and James 
Wolfe were on the way to Louisbourg with transports, 
bearing eleven thousand six hundred regulars and five 
hundred rangers, to lay siege once more to that formidable 
fortress ; while Abercrombie, the new commander-in-chief, 
lay in camp with fifteen thousand picked troops at the head 
of Lake George, ready to march on Montcalm's strongholds 
on Lake Champlain. 



CHAPTER XI 

TICONDEROGA — LOUISBOURG 

For more than two years England had waited in vain for 
good news from America. There had been three com- 
manders-in-chief who in turn had failed, and now a fourth 
one was to bring fresh disaster on English arms. For some 
political reason, Pitt, when he recalled Loudoun, retained 
and promoted James Abercrombie, who was destined to 
bring about the most ignominious defeat that England 
received from France during this war. 

On the 4th of July 1758, fifteen thousand men, the largest 
army that had yet mustered, were gathered under his 
command at the head of Lake George, near the blackened 
ruins of Fort William Henry, the scene of the massacre of 
the year before. About half of them were regulars : the 
Fifty-fifth, the Twenty-seventh, the Forty -fourth, a battalion 
of the Royal Americans, afterwards known in history as the 
Sixtieth Rifles, twelve hundred kilted Highlanders (the 
Forty-second or Black Watch), also a great train of artillery. 
The other half of the troops were light infantry regiments 
from New York, New England, and the Jerseys, led by 
Philip Schuyler, Israel Putman, and John Bradstreet, 
together with a band of Rogers' Rangers clad in hunting 
shirts and moccassins. All were full of confidence, and 
looked on their foe as already crushed. An immense fleet 
of boats and bateaux had been collected for the passage of 
the troops over those silvery waters to where Montcalm 
waited for them, forty miles away, at the outlet of Lake 



TICONDEROGA— LOUISBOURG 151 

George. Abercrombie had as his brigadier-general Lord 
Howe, a gifted, brave, and resourceful man, who was 
beloved and trusted not only by his own soldiers, but by 
every class in the colonies. 

It was early in the morning of the 5th of July that the 
armada set off, and once again martial music woke the 
echoes of that lovely lake. Ten thousand oars flashed in 
the sunlight, and in three files, six miles in length, the 
loaded boats passed on their way. A brief rest at sundown, 
and then again in the silence of the night they pressed on, 
till daylight found them near the outlet of Lake George 
into Lake Champlain ; and by noon of the 6th the army 
was on shore, with but a strip of dense forest to cross 
between the landing-place and the promontory, on which 
rose the famous fortress of Ticonderoga or Carillon. Here 
Montcalm was at bay with less than four thousand men : 
before him this apparently invincible army ; behind him 
three hundred miles of wilderness in which retreat was 
impossible. Only a week's provisions remained to him. 

The advance guard of the English was led by Lord Howe, 
and consisted of his own light infantry regiment and Rogers' 
company of Rangers. These met by chance with about four 
hundred of Montcalm's light troops who had been sent out 
as scouts, and who were hurrying back to the fort. An 
engagement ensued, in which the French were totally 
routed ; but the victory was dearly purchased by the loss 
of Lord Howe, who fell almost at the first discharge, shot 
through the heart. This loss was irreparable, and Aber- 
crombie seemed helpless without him. It was as if the 
brains of the army had gone. All night the troops lay in 
the woods, and in the morning, without any reason, they 
were marched back to the landing-place to make an advance 
in another direction. This delay gave Montcalm the oppor- 



152 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

tunity he needed to complete his defences. Although know- 
ing that the fort was open to artillery from neighbom?ing 
heights, the French commander decided to erect breastworks 
across the peninsula, and thus protect his position from a 
direct assault on the landward side. For twenty-four hours 
officers and men worked without ceasing, and a strong 
abattis was raised. At dawn on the 8th, a breastwork of 
logs about eight feet high, packed with sandbags and earth, 
spanned the peninsula, while densely wooded swamps 
guarded the approach from either side. In front of the 
breastwork the ground sloped downwards, and this slope 
was covered with branches, whose sharpened points made 
a most formidable defence, while for two hundred yards 
in front of this trees had been felled, covering the whole 
open space. 

In spite of all this, there were several hills near by from 
which artillery could have raked the breastworks, but for 
some inscrutable reason Abercrombie determined to leave 
the artillery behind him at the landing-place, and to order 
an assault in the open with the bayonet. His haste was 
increased by the erroneous report that reinforcements for 
Montcalm were approaching. It was noon when the first 
long lines of grenadiers appeared with fixed bayonets, and 
tried to cross the two hundred yards of tangled trees that 
lay between the forest and the abattis. Not a Frenchman 
was to be seen, but three thousand rifles were ready, behind 
the bristling barriers, to deal death and destruction. Aber- 
crombie's orders were to carry the outworks by steel, and 
well his brave troops tried to obey them. Regiment after 
regiment advanced, only to meet with a hail of bullets that 
drove their shattered columns back. Hour after hour the 
pitiless and hopeless struggle went on, while Abercrombie, 
two miles away, still gave orders for fresh troops to advance. 



TICONDEROGA— LOUISBOURG 153 

only to meet the same fate. Then a sudden unaccountable 
panic seized them, and they turned and fled. It was more 
than a flight. It was a stampede. Some of the colonial 
troops and rangers remained on the field and covered those 
who were engaged in bringing o£E the wounded, but the 
rest — Highlanders, grenadiers, riflemen, who had vainly 
fought with such splendid courage — hastened in the wildest 
disorder through woods and swamps to the landing-place, 
where Bradstreet's common sense in guarding the boats 
alone prevented further disaster. Two thousand killed 
and wounded was the sum of the day's loss. By night 
they were all embarked, their pusillanimous commander 
urging on their flight though they still counted four times 
the number of the foe they fled from. With rage and 
shame, utterly demoralised, the army sped back to the camp 
they had left so proudly a few days before, while Montcalm 
uttered with good reason a paean of victory, and raised on 
the scene of his triumph a cross, giving to God the glory. 

Far away on the Cape Breton shore, ignorant of the 
disaster at Lake George, Amherst and Wolfe and Boscawen 
were urging on the siege of Louisbourg. No obstacle dis- 
mayed them. From the 8th of June, when through fog 
and blinding surf Wolfe and his men chmbed the craggy 
shore, the first to land, one move after another of the siege 
had gone on with unerring rapidity. Redoubts had been 
thrown up, entrenchments made round the doomed town, 
and each day the Enghsh lines grew closer, until, on the 26th 
of July, after a furious bombardment, the last breach was 
effected. Early on the 27th the white fiag was raised, and 
Drucour, the French commandant, was forced to capitulate 
without the honours of war. 

The terms of the surrender were exceedingly severe, for 
Amherst remembered the treachery of Fort William Henry. 



154 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

More than five thousand prisoners were sent to England. 
London went wild with joy. The captured flags were carried 
in triumph through the streets, and placed as trophies in 
St. Paul's Cathedral, and even Abercrombie's failure was 
forgotten in Amherst's victory. An immense quantity of 
arms and stores were taken, and the island of Cape Breton, 
and Isle St. Jean, now Prince Edward Island, were yielded 
unconditionally to the English Crown. The news was 
received with rapture both in the colonies and England. 
Honours and rewards were showered upon the successful 
general, and he was immediately made commander-in-chief 
of His Majesty's forces in America in succession to the 
unfortunate Abercrombie, who henceforth disappears from 
history. 

Amherst, the new chief, was born in Kent, England, in 1717. 
When a boy he entered the service of the Duke of Norfolk 
as a page ; then, by his patron's influence, he received a 
commission in the Guards, and later served on the staff of 
General Ligonier and the Duke of Cumberland in Germany. 
He fought in the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, and 
soon rose to the command of a regiment. When William 
Pitt was selecting his officers for America, the young colonel 
was called back from Germany, made a major-general, and 
entrusted with the expedition against Louisbourg. He was 
fortunate in having associated with him James Wolfe, 
another man of Kent, ten years his junior, who like himself 
had served in Germany, fighting against the French. By 
his enterprise and daring he had gained the attention of 
WiUiam Pitt, always on the look-out for leaders in military 
affairs. He was made a brigadier-general, though only 
thirty-two years old, and sent with Amherst to America. 
Wolfe's character was impetuous, fiery, and energetic, 
while Amherst was slow and cautious, though dogged and 



TICONDEROGA— LOUISBOURG 155 

determined. It was Wolfe's spare form that landed first 
on that craggy Cape Breton shore, and led the daring charge 
on the batteries. It was Wolfe to whom Amherst gave 
credit in his dispatches for the successful carrying out of 
his orders, nor was it Wolfe's fault that Quebec was not 
taken that year, for the young brigadier wished to press 
on to the St. Lawrence, while the more cautious commander- 
in-chief refused, after Abercrombie's disaster, to venture on 
an autumn campaign. 

So slowly did news travel in those days that no certain 
accounts of Louisbourg had reached the wilds of Pennsyl- 
vania on the 16th of August. Forbes writes to Sharpe on 
that date from Shippensburg : ' There is a talk this morn- 
ing, but with what foundation I know not, as if Louisbourg 
should have been surrendered the 22nd of last month, but 
this surely cannot be true altho' we are in daily expecta- 
tion of good news from that quarter.' 

On the 28th of August Sharpe was still in ignorance of 
the fall of Louisbourg, but on the 3rd of September Forbes 
writes to him a letter of congratulation on the news. He 
says : ' I give you joy of Louisbourg, which is certainly a 
great acquisition, and may be of some service to me, for 
as I don't hear that they have reinforced Fort Du Quesne 
with any Regulars I fancy their chief reliance may be on 
the Western Indians from Detroit.' 

Colonel Sharpe's and Sir John St. Clair's comments on 
the disaster of Ticonderoga show that they thought a great 
mistake had been made in removing General Loudoun in 
the midst of the campaign. Sharpe writes to his brother : 
' You cannot easily conceive how the loss of the Earl of 
Loudoun is now regretted in America, as well in these 
southern colonies as to the Northward. Indeed nothing 
has seemed to go on rightly with us since His Lordship 



156 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

was superseded. The plan which he had laid for an early 
expedition against Fort Du Quesne was at once overset 
by the Troops, which he had quartered for that purpose 
in Maryland and Pennsylvania last winter, being ordered 
to the Northward as soon as General Abercromby assumed 
the chief command ; besides, you must know that His 
Lordship began to be regarded among us as a Vice Roy 
and to have great inifluence in all the Colonies, which I am 
apt to think his successor will never have. 

' The Inactivity, as it has been called, of the last campaign 
was indeed censured for a while, but after the people had 
heard affairs represented in their true light, they were 
perfectly reconciled to His Lordship's conduct. I had 
before heard, and since I have seen Brigadier Forbes I have 
the greatest reason to believe, that General Abercromby 
and he have been on very ill terms since the Earl of Loudoun 
left them.' 

Another success came a month after Louisbourg, when 
Colonel Bradstreet with three thousand provincials suc- 
ceeded in taking Fort Frontenac. He had vainly implored 
Lord Loudoun to allow him to attempt this, but after many 
delays and rebuffs he succeeded in persuading General 
Abercrombie to give him the necessary troops for the 
enterprise. He set off up the Mohawk and down the 
Onondago by Lake Oneida until he came to the blackened 
and deserted walls of Oswego. Here he was joined by some 
Indians, and embarked his troops in bateaux and whale- 
boats for the passage across the lake. He landed by night 
about two miles below the fort, and the next morning 
demanded its surrender. The garrison was small and 
helpless, and surrendered without a blow. An immense 
amount of provisions and naval stores fell into his hands, 
together with nine armed vessels, whose crews had escaped, 



TICONDEROGA— LOUISBOURG 157 

and sixty cannon and sixteen mortars found in the fort. 
This victory was the more important as Frontenac guarded 
the entrance of the St. Lawrence River, and commanded 
Lake Ontario. Here provisions were stored for the western 
forts, including Fort Duquesne, and here also were the 
presents for the Indians, without which the fickle red men 
would soon give up their allegiance to the French. All 
these fell into Bradstreet's hands, who destroyed what he 
could not carry away. 

Meanwhile the southern campaign was proceeding but 
slowly. The delay was accounted for, as Governor Sharpe 
writes, by the tedious passage of the vessels freighted with 
the artillery and stores, the late arrival of Colonel Mont- 
gomery's battahon, the backwardness of the assemblies, 
the difficulty of collecting wagons, and the opening of the 
new road from Carlisle in Pennsylvania to Fort Cumberland, 
by way of Raystown. It had been decided by Forbes, much 
against Colonel Washington's opinion and advice, not to 
follow the road made by General Braddock. A worse draw- 
back came, for the poor general fell ill. He writes to Sharpe 
on the 16th of August : ' I cannot paint the misery and 
distress that I have been in since I had the pleasure of seeing 

you, by that d d Flux, which I hope has now made its 

last effort by knocking me up at this blessed habitation. 
I now begin to mend a little and hope in a day or two to 
get forward. Our new road is advancing apace, so that in 
a few days I hope to have our advanced post on the other 
side of the Laurel Hill pretty well advanced towards the 
ennemy.' 

Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe remained at Fort Frederick 
forwarding supplies, looking after purchases, trying to raise 
money, encouraging his volunteer Maryland troops to 
remain at their posts even with scanty rations and no pay, 



158 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

and writing all the time long dispatches to Pitt, to Lord 
Baltimore, to General Forbes, and to the governors of the 
neighbouring provinces, all of which correspondence, care- 
fully preserved, brings to light a good many admirable 
traits in this worthy and hard-working governor. 

Early in September General Forbes writes to him that he 
is leaving Shippensburg for the advance on Fort Duquesne 
in a kind of horse litter. He says : ' I am so weakened by 
my distemper that I neither can ride nor bear the roughness 
of my wagon. I hope a few days will make a great change.' 
He thanks the governor for agreeing to garrison Fort 
Cumberland in his absence, and says he has ordered the 
commissary to furnish the troops there with provisions and 
a gill of spirits each day. 

He finds fault with the quarter-master-general, Sir John 
St. Clair, for failing to provide forage for his horses, and 
says : ' It is a neglect that he can never answer for, as 
he was sent from Philadelphia to make magazines of forage 
all along the march route.' In the meantime he depends 
upon Governor Sharpe to see about a proper supply of 
blankets, of which his army were in great need. Colonel 
Sharpe scoured the country in search of blankets, but 
could only collect four hundred and eighty-nine pairs at the 
cost of £326, 16s. 6d. Maryland currency. He writes on the 
20th of September to Forbes, congratulating him on the 
success of His Majesty's arms under Bradstreet, and also 
tells him that the volunteers under his command will be 
returning home on the 10th of October. On the 5th of 
October General Forbes writes to him thanking him for 
the care he had taken of the good Fort Cumberland, and 
begs him to excuse his not writing with his own hand, as 
he had been unable to write for ten days. 

The poor governor had not had an easy time in command, 



TICONDEROGA— LOUISBOURG 159 

for a hundred Virginians had been left sick in the fort, 
dying at the rate of three or four a day, and a storehouse 
was blown up, killing his adjutant and a captain of volun- 
teers, and setting the fort on fire. 

He returned to Annapolis on the 19th of October to meet 
his pugnacious assembly. 

Bouquet's road over the mountains was being pushed 
on with all haste, but autumn rains had set in making it 
almost impassable. In the meantime, General Forbes had 
arranged for a convention of governors and commissioners 
from various provinces to meet at Earton, Pennsylvania, 
with representatives of different Indian tribes, to discuss 
terms of alliance with them. There were Delawares, 
Shawanese, and Five Nations, all of whom were inclined 
just now to look with favour on the English, from whom 
they hoped to receive large presents. Sir William Johnson 
had long been endeavouring to win the Five Nations over, 
although he was opposed to the convention. However, it 
met in October and lasted nineteen days, and the result 
was favourable to the English and most disheartening to 
the French. 

The heavy rains had broken up the new road so much 
that it was now thought that the best plan would be to cut 
a cross-road into the one made by General Braddock. This 
would have lengthened the march, and there was a danger 
that the water of the Monongahela would have risen too much 
for carriages to pass or for men to ford it. So Bouquet's 
road was kept, and the general struggled on. In September 
a detachment of his army under Major Grant had met with 
a very severe repulse in attempting to reconnoitre Fort 
Duquesne. They had set out from the camp at Loyal- 
hannon eight hundred strong, Highlanders, Virginians, and 
Royal Americans, but the French and Indians met them 



160 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

in force, and routed them with great loss. The affair had 
happened without the knowledge of the general, who was 
on his sick-bed in Raystown. 

On the 28th of November Sharpe writes to Pitt from 
Annapolis to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from that 
minister dated the 18th of September 1758, in which is 
announced that His Majesty had thought fit to appoint 
Major-General Amherst commander-in-chief of all the 
forces in North America. Sharpe reports that General 
Forbes had reached Loyalhannon on the 2nd of November ; 
that on the 13th a detachment of a thousand men marched 
thence to open a road to Fort Duquesne ; that as many 
more followed on the 15th ; and on the 16th part of the 
artillery moved on, escorted by Colonel Montgomery with 
about seven hundred men ; and that the general was to 
march next day with about a thousand more. Forbes had 
received a report from a prisoner brought in, that the 
French had sent away a good many of their garrison and 
Indians, imagining that after Grant's repulse the general 
would do nothing more that season. He was indeed very 
nearly abandoning the enterprise, but hearing of the 
weakened condition of the French he advanced, in spite 
of the terrible condition of the roads, and his own increasing 
wealaiess. 

It was on the 23rd of November that the French com- 
mandant decided to retire. About half of his garrison of 
five hundred men went down the Ohio in bateaux carrying 
the artillery and all the stores ; the rest, having set fire to 
all the houses in and without the fort, marched towards 
Fort Venango, about sixty miles to the northward. They 
had been in great want of provisions, owing to the capture 
of Fort Frontenac, and their Indians had left them. This 
was the report that a Virginian had brought in, who had 



TICONDEROGA— LOUISBOURG 161 

been taken prisoner and escaped. The next day the English 
occupied Fort Duquesne, the capture of which had cost so 
much. The general gave orders for a number of huts and 
cabins to be built, surrounded by a stockade for the protec- 
tion of the two hundred men who were to be left to guard 
the position, now named by him Pittsburg, and then with 
the rest of his troops he set off homewards. Want of pro- 
visions prevented him from following the French, and also 
prevented his leaving a larger number at the fort. In 
weariness and pain the poor general, who had finished his 
task, was borne back, a dying man, to Philadelphia. 



CHAPTER XII 
1759 

TICONDEROGA — OSWEGO — NIAGARA — QUEBEC 

That Pitt thoroughly understood the situation of affairs 

in America, and directed every move of the campaign, is 

amply proved by the instructions he gave to Amherst on 

his appointment as commander-in-chief, in a letter dated 

29th December 1758 : 

* It is His Majesty's pleasure that you do attempt an 

invasion of Canada by the way of Crown Point, or La 

Galette, or both, according as you shall judge practicable, 

and proceed and attack Montreal or Quebec, or both of the 

said places successively with such of the forces as shall 

remain under your own immediate direction. ... It is 

also the King's pleasure that you should give a due attention 

to the Lake Ontario, and facilitate as far as possible the 

re-establishment of the important post of Oswego, a place 

so highly essential to His Majesty's possessions in North 

America in time of peace as well as war ; and you will 

accordingly not fail to concert with the Lieutenant-Governor 

of New York, within whose province Oswego is situated, 

all necessary and effectual measures for re-establishing that 

post in the course of the ensuing year ; and the enclosed 

copy of my letter to Mr. DeLancey will shew you that he 

has similar orders to concert with and assist you in the 

execution of this very important service. It were much 

to be wished that any operation on the side of Lake Ontario 
m 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 163 

could be pushed on as far as Niagara, and that you may 
find it practicable to set on foot some enterprise against 
the Fort there, the success of which would so greatly con- 
tribute to establish the uninterrupted dominion of that 
Lake and at the same time effectually cut off the communica- 
tion between Canada and the French Settlements to the 
South.' 

Amherst's work during the winter of 1758-59 had been to 
recruit and drill and discipline Abercrombie's demoralised 
and shattered army on Lake George. A new fort was built 
there near the site of Fort William Henry and called Fort 
George. New roads were made, and the whole lake region 
was carefully explored. Nothing was left to chance. It 
has been well said that from the beginning to the end of 
his American campaign, Amherst never lost a point in the 
great game of war. His operations covered all the English 
Colonies, the western and southern, as well as the northern 
and eastern frontiers. ' Under his masterly combinations 
distant and varied forces now moved together for one 
common end, the destruction of French power in North 
America.' 

On the 26th of January 1759 Governor Sharpe writes to 
Amherst, congratulating him on his appointment as com- 
mander-in-chief, and also telling him of the difficulties he 
was having with his Assembly as to the support of the 
Maryland troops. Since October 1757 the men had received 
no pay. Sharpe had met the Assembly four times within 
the year, and had endeavoured to the utmost to persuade 
them to comply with the requisitions of His Majesty's 
generals, but all in vain. Each supply bill was saddled 
with conditions that the governor, in the interests of the 
proprietary, could not agree to. Sharpe trusted that the 
next time he convened them he would be able to com- 



164 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

municate to them some instructions or a letter from His 
Majesty's minister, and also one from the commander-in- 
chief, which might have some weight with them. Instead 
of disbanding the Maryland companies, who would no 
longer serve without pay, the governor had decided it 
would be best to give them furlough until the necessary 
supplies were raised. 

In February he wrote again to Amherst, who was then in 
Philadelphia, that General Forbes had requested him to 
send there Mr. Ross, who had ' victualled ' the Maryland 
troops from the time the Assembly had declined to provide 
for their support till they marched against Fort Duquesne, 
and that he had sent with Mr. Ross his own secretary Mr. 
Ridout, and begs to introduce him to the general, as being 
acquainted with all that passed between the Earl of Loudoun, 
General Stanwix, and General Forbes about the Maryland 
troops. He trusted that any further commands or instruc- 
tions from His Excellency to be laid before the Assembly 
might be sent by Mr. Ridout. 

Early in March General Forbes, who had never rallied 
from the fatigues of his campaign, died ; and the com- 
mander-in-chief immediately appointed Brigadier-General 
Stanwix to succeed him. He writes to Sharpe from New 
York on 18th March, announcing the appointment, and 
continues : ' I am therefore to request you that during such 
his command, you will upon every immergent occasion 
correspond and co-operate with him in the same manner 
as you are enjoined by Mr. Secretary Pitt's Letter to do 
with me, which must prove of great benefit to the publick 
Services ; as from my removal from hence into the Back 
Country, whither I may be called soon, it prove very 
prejudicial to the safety and security of the southern 
provinces to wait for the answers to any of the Letters 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 165 

you may have occasion to write to me in relation thereto ; 
and I have accordingly directed Brig. Gen. Stanwix to 
correspond and co-operate with you in like manner on every 
matter relative to the service in these parts.' 

Sharpe writes to Secretary Calvert in April, that although 
he had pressed the Assembly in the most importunate manner 
to raise supplies for the next campaign, they were still deter- 
mined to adhere to their old bill ; that the Upper House 
were equally steadfast on their part in rejecting it ; that he 
had no hope of prevailing on them to raise either money 
or troops, unless the King's Ministers, upon an inquiry 
into the dispute between the two houses, still thought fit 
to censure the conduct of those that compose the Lower 
in a more particular manner than the Secretary of State 
had yet done. He had prorogued them again until the 
middle of July, and unless something extraordinary should 
happen, would further prorogue them until the winter. 

Another letter from Amherst to Sharpe on 28th March 
announces that, in dispatches from Secretary Pitt that 
moment received, he was instructed to lose no time in 
restoring the ruined fort of Duquesne, or erecting another 
in the room of it, of sufficient strength and in every way 
adequate to maintain His Majesty's subjects in the undis- 
puted possessions of the Ohio ; and it was His Majesty's 
pleasure that the Governor of Maryland should use his 
utmost endeavours with his Council and Assembly to induce 
them to send materials of all sorts, and workmen, which the 
commander-in-chief should require for this service ; and 
also to furnish every other assistance of men, cattle, car- 
riages, provisions, etc., which shall be necessary for the 
support and maintenance of the King's forces employed in 
this essential work. 

The same instructions were sent to Virginia and Penn- 



166 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

sylvan ia, and by aid from those provinces General Stanwix 
accomplished the task of building the new fort, which he 
named Fort Pitt, in honour of the minister. 

The campaign of 1759 was now decided on, and Sharpe 
outlines it in a letter to Calvert on the 17th of April. Another 
attempt was to be made on Ticonderoga by ten battalions 
of regular troops and ten thousand provincials, under the 
immediate command of General Amherst. Three other 
regiments, with those left in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, 
were to join General Wolfe ; and General Stanwix with the 
first battalion of the Royal American and Provincial troops 
from Virginia and Pennsylvania was to keep possession of 
the Ohio country, and compel the French to abandon their 
forts at the head of that river. 

In Pennsylvania Governor Denny had at last submitted 
to the demand of his Assembly, and had assented to a 
supply bill which subjected the proprietary's estate to be 
taxed by assessors of the people's choosing. In conse- 
quence of the passage of the bill for raising one hundred 
thousand pounds, the Pennsylvania troops were to be 
immediately augmented to two thousand seven hundred men. 

Sharpe naturally was rather wrathful at the action of 
Governor Denny, and asks : ' What can the Proprietaries 
of Pennsylvania or Governor Denny expect after such a 
step ? Will they hope to preserve any authority ? Do 
they not encourage the people to make any demands on the 
Governors, and as it were tell them that if they do not lack 
resolution to persevere they will obtain every thing they 
want, be their Demands never so unreasonable ? ' 

Evidently our conservative and loyal governor was 
impatient of the growth of popular power on the Continent 
of America. 

In defence of his own position, and his reason for refusing 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 167 

assent to the Bill taxing Lord Baltimore's estate, Sharpe 
refers to two Acts that were passed in 1651 and 1661, 
showing that the lord proprietary then gave up to the people 
certain privileges, on condition that they should thereafter 
defray the whole expense of any war that might arise. In 
order to make this clearer, his secretary, Mr. Ridout, had 
by his instructions drawn up a narrative of the matter 
after examining all the old records.^ 

In the meantime, while Stanwix was holding the frontier 
at Pittsbm'g, and receiving the homage of the Indian tribes 
who had renounced their allegiance to France, and Wolfe 
and his squadron were sailing up the St. Lawrence to 
Quebec, Amherst had begun his advance northward to 
Ticonderoga. His own account of how he fared there is 
given in a letter to Governor Sharpe, dated ' Camp at 
Ticonderoga, 27th July 1759 ' : 

' On Saturday morning last I Embarked with the Army 
at Lake George. The next day landed without Opposition, 
and proceeded to the Saw mills ; and took post on the 
Commanding Grounds, meeting only a trifling Opposition 
from the Ennemy. We lay on our Arms all Night, and 
Early on the 23rd We continued our March to this Ground, 
the Ennemy having Abandoned the Lines without destroy- 
ing them, first having Carried off their Effects as well as sent 
away the greatest part of their Troops. As soon as I was 
set down before the place and after having reconnoitred 
it, I Ordered the Trenches to be Opened, and Batteries to 
be made, which were finished last Night, and were to have 
Opened at break of day but the Ennemy did not think 
proper to Wait till then, having about ten of the Clock 
Yesterday evening blown up a part of the Fort and made 

^ This narrative is often referred to, but is not among the Sharpe 
correspondence. 



168 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

their Escape all to about 20 Deserters. Our Loss, consider- 
ing the fire we sustained, is inconsiderable ; We have only 
two Officers killed, viz.. Colonel Townshend, Deputy- 
Adjutant-General, and Ensign Harrison of Late Forbes. 
I take the earliest Opportunity of Acquainting you with 
this, and of Assuring you that I Am, with great Regard, 
Sir, Yr. most Obedt. Servant, Jeff. Amherst.' 

So, almost without a blow, the fortress that Montcalm 
had defended with so much skill and courage the year 
before fell before the victorious and successful general. 
Crown Point on Lake Champlain was also abandoned, and 
the French withdrew to the Richelieu River, and took up 
their position on the Isle aux Noix. 

From Crown Point Amherst writes again on 5th August : 
' No time shall be lost in building here such a Fort as from 
its situation and strength will most effectually cover the 
whole country and ensure the peaceable and quiet posses- 
sion of this side.' Amherst proceeded also to build a fleet 
on Lake Champlain, as the French had the advantage of 
four armed vessels on the lake. Although Parkman finds 
fault with his failing to support Wolfe during the summer, 
there is much to be said of his sagacity in strengthening 
the position of the English on Lake Champlain. 

Amherst's plan of campaign also included the re-establish- 
ment of Fort Oswego and the capture of Fort Niagara. 
General Prideaux was selected to lead the attack on Niagara ; 
while Colonel Haldimand was to reoccupy the deserted post 
of Oswego, defend it from an attack, and prevent Prideaux 
from being cut off on his return from Niagara. 

Haldimand was attacked, as was expected, by a force 
of a thousand French regulars, Canadians and Indians, 
who had been stationed at the head of the St. Lawrence 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 169 

Rapids, and who now, under St. Luc de la Come, made 
a dash to surprise Haldimand's detachment. The latter 
had barricaded his camp with pork and flour barrels, and 
was prepared to receive them. The attack was not con- 
ducted with either skill or spirit, and the French were 
driven off with the loss of their commander. 

This was early in July 1759. In the meanwhile, Prideaux 
had reached Niagara in safety, and laid siege to the fort 
which had been lately strengthened, well garrisoned, and 
provisioned. It was a bold undertaking to capture it, 
isolated as the English force was in a hostile country. 
From Detroit, from Michilimackinac, from the far west, 
French and Indians had been summoned by Vaudreuil 
to come down the lakes to drive their hated foes from 
the Ohio. These bands were scattered at the different 
posts on the way, at Venango, Le Bceuf , and Presqu'isle on 
Lake Erie. 

To these Pouchot, the commandant at Niagara, sent 
messengers, bidding them to come with all speed to his 
aid. Prideaux had with him about a thousand of the 
Five Nation Indians, led by Sir William Johnson. At the 
very opening of the siege an unfortunate accident deprived 
the English of their commander. General Prideaux was 
killed by a fragment of a shell from one of his own cohorns, 
and Sir William Johnson took command. For more than 
two weeks the siege went on, till at last a breach was made, 
and the exhausted garrison had no alternative but to 
surrender, unless the expected reinforcements should 
arrive. At last, on the 24th of July, a distant firing was 
heard, which brought hope to Pouchot and his men. John- 
son's force consisted of about two thousand men, not 
counting the Indians. A third of these had been left to 
guard the bateaux, a third had remained in the trenches, 



170 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

while the remainder had advanced to meet the coming foe. 
A short but sharp engagement ensued on the banks of the 
Niagara River, but a panic seized the French and Indians, 
though their commander, Aubrey, and his officers did what 
they could to rally them. After heavy loss they fled to 
their boats, above the Falls, and the remnant made their 
way back to Fort Presqu'isle, which they burnt. With 
the defeat of their reinforcements the garrison was forced 
to surrender, and one more bulwark of French rule in 
Canada was destroyed. Sharpe writes : ' The siege of 
Niagara was begun in a very lucky hour, for had it been 
delayed a Day or two longer the French and Indians who 
were assembled at Venango would have fallen down the 
Ohio and attacked Pittsburg, the garrison whereof was 
by no means formidable, far from being well supplied 
with Provisions, and the Fort scarcely proof against 
Musketry.' 

Brigadier Stanwix was then on the frontiers of Penn- 
sylvania, unable, as it was said, to proceed for want of 
wagons. Soon after Fort Niagara surrendered, the French, 
being vastly reduced by an unsuccessful attempt to raise 
the siege of that place, decided that it would be impossible 
to hold the Ohio, if Brigadier Stanwix should act offensively ; 
and therefore at once abandoned and destroyed their several 
forts on the south side of Lake Erie and on the head 
branches of the Ohio whereby the Enghsh were left 
masters of that river with all the country on the eastern 
side. 

All interest was now centred on the St. Lawrence, where 
the French under Montcalm had di-awn together for the 
defence of their capital almost the whole force of Canada, 
which vastly exceeded the troops under the command of 
General Wolfe. After the success of Louisbourg the year 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 17 1 

before, James Wolfe had gone back to England, hoping in 
spite of his frail health to be sent again to Germany ; but 
Pitt had other work for him, and he was sent back to Canada 
in the spring to find there ' Glory and the grave.' 

The struggle between the French and English on the 
continent of America was now intense, and news from 
Canada was eagerly looked for in all the Enghsh colonies, 
and nowhere more eagerly than in Maryland. Among its 
archives, in an old Gazette yellow with age, mutilated, but 
still legible, there is printed on 13th September 1759, a 
letter dated ' River St. Lawrence, 12th August,' from an 
officer to a friend in Annapolis. It reads : ' I wish I could 
inform you by this opportunity of the surrender of Quebec. 
The general opinion of most here is that it will require 
another campaign except General Amherst should join us. 
We keep an incessant fire from our batteries on the town, 
of which we have already destroyed one half. We have 
set it on fire in several different places with our shells. 
They have sent down their fire-fleets several times to destroy 
our shipping, but no ships have received any damage from 
them. Our Grenadiers made an attempt on their entrench- 
ments some days ago, but were soon beaten off with the loss 
of about four hundred killed and wounded. They are 
entrenched up to their very noses in all parts where they 
are likely to be attacked, and as our men-of-war can be 
of no service or covering to our troops it will make all 
attacks both difficult and dangerous. I imagine we shall 
fall from hence by the latter end of September, and if we 
don't succeed shall destroy the country all the way, which 
is full of houses and very plentiful of corn. Our people 
have had several skirmishes with the Canadians and Indians 
in the outparts of the country, of whom we have killed a 
great many and taken about five hundred prisoners. I 



172 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

reckon we have on the whole about seven hundred men 
killed and wounded, officers included. I believe our 
people find Quebec a much stronger place than they 
expected.' 

This letter was published in the Gazette on the very 
day of the successful battle, news of which did not reach 
Annapolis until weeks had passed. The whole story is 
told in the dispatches given in the London Gazette of 17th 
October 1759 : 

' Last night Colonel John Hale and Captain James 
Douglas, late Commander of His M. ship the Alcide, arrived 
from Quebec with the following letter to the Rt. Hon. 
Mr. Secretary Pitt : 

' From the Hon. General Monckton to the Rt. Hon. 
Mr. Secretary Pitt, dated River St. Lawrence camp, 
at Point Levi, 15th September 1759. 

' " Sir, — I have the pleasure to acquaint you that on the 
13th instant, His Majesty's troops gained a very signal 
victory over the French a little above the Town of Quebec. 
General Wolfe exerting himself on the right of our line, 
received a wound pretty early, of which he died soon after, 
and I myself had the great misfortune of receiving one in 
my right breast by a ball that went through part of my 
lungs and which has just been cut out under the blade bone 
of my shoulder, just as the French were giving way, which 
obliged me to quit the field. I have, therefore, sir, desired 
General Townshend, who now commands the troops before 
the town, and of which I am in hopes he will be soon in 
possession, to acquaint you of the particulars of the day 
and of the operations carrying on. I have the honour to 
be, etc., RoBT. Monckton." 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 173 
' From Brigadier Townshend, dated 20th September 1759 : 

'- " Camp before Quebec, 

' " Sir, — I have the honour to acquaint you with the 
success of His Majesty's arms on the 13th instant, in an 
action with the French on the heights to the westward of 
the town. It being determined to carry the operations 
above the town, the Posts at Point Levi and L'Isle d'Orleans 
being secured, the General marched with the remainder of 
the force from Point Levi, the 5th and 6th, and embarked 
them in transports which had passed the town for that 
purpose. On the 7th, 8th, and 9th a movement of the 
ships was made up by Admiral Holmes, in order to amuse 
the enemy now posted along the North shore, but the 
transports being extremely crowded and the weather very 
bad, the General thought proper to canton half his troops 
on the south shore, where they were refreshed and re- 
embarked upon the 13th at one in the morning. The Light 
Infantry, commanded by Colonel Howe, the regiments of 
Bragg, Kennedy, Lascelles and Anstruther, with a detach- 
ment of Highlanders, the whole being under the command 
of Brigadiers Monckton and Murray, were put into the 
flat-bottomed boats, and, after some movement of the 
ships made by Admiral Holmes to draw the attention of 
the enemy, the boats fell down with the tide and landed on 
the north shore, within a league of Cape Diamond an hour 
before daybreak. The rapidity of the tide of ebb carried 
them a little below the intended place of attack, which 
obliged the Light Infantry to scramble up a woody precipice 
in order to secure the landing of the troops by dislodging a 
Captain's post, which defended the small entrenched path 
the troops were to ascend. After a little firing the Light 
Infantry gained the top of the precipice and dispersed 



174 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

the Captain's post, by which means the troops, with a very 
little loss from a few Canadians and Indians in the wood, 
got up and were immediately formed. The boats as they 
emptied were sent back for the second embarkation, which 
I immediately made. Brigadier Murray, who had been 
detached with Anstruther's battalion to attack the four- 
gun battery upon the left, was recalled by the General, 
who now saw the French army crossing the River St. Charles. 
General Wolfe thereupon began to form his line, having his 
right covered by the Louisbourg Grenadiers ; on the right 
of these again he afterwards brought Otway's. To the 
left of the Grenadiers were Bragg's, Kennedy's, Lascelles', 
Highlanders and Anstruther's. 

' " The right of the body was commanded by Brigadier 
Monckton, and the left by Brigadier Murray. His rear and 
left were protected by Colonel Howe's Light Infantry, who 
was returned from the four-gun battery before mentioned, 
which was soon abandoned to him. General Montcalm 
having collected the whole of his force from the Beauport 
side, and advancing, showed his intention to flank our left, 
where I was immediately ordered, with General Amherst's 
battalion which I formed en potence. 

' " My numbers were soon after increased by the arrival 
of the two battahons of Royal Americans, and Webb's was 
drawn up by the General as a reserve, in eight sub-divisions, 
with large intervals. The enemy lined the bushes in front 
with 1500 Indians and Canadians, and I daresay had placed 
most of their best marksmen there, who kept up a very 
gaUing, though irregular, fire upon the whole line, who 
bore it with the greatest patience and good order, reserving 
their fire for the main body now advancing. 

' " The fire of the enemy was, however, checked by our 
posts in our front, which protected the forming of our own line. 



TICONDEROGA— OSWEGO— NIAGARA— QUEBEC 175 

' " The right of the enemy was composed of half of the 
troops of the colony, the battalions of La Sarre, Languedoc, 
and the remainder of their Canadians and Indians. Their 
centre was a column, and formed by the battalions of Beam 
and Guienne. Their left was composed of the remainder 
of the troops of the colony and the battalions of Royal 
Roussillon. This was as near as I can guess their line of 
battle. They brought up two pieces of small artillery 
against us, and we had been able to bring up but one gun, 
which, being admirably well served, galled the column 
exceedingly. My attention to the left wiU not permit me 
to be very exact with regard to every circumstance which 
passed in the centre, much less to the right, but it is most 
certain that the enemy formed in good order, and that their 
attack was very brisk and animated on that side. 

' " Our troops reserved their fire till within 40 yards, 
which was so well continued that the enemy everywhere 
gave way. It was then our General fell at the head of 
Bragg's and the Louisbourg Grenadiers advancing with 
their bayonets. About the same time Brigadier-General 
Monckton received his wound at the head of LasceUes'. In 
front of the opposite battalion fell also Mr. Montcalm, and 
his second in command. Brigadier Senezergues, is since dead 
of his wounds on board our fleet." ' 

The dispatches sent from the field give but a simple 
record of that fateful day. There was no time for either 
lament or praise. Montcalm and Wolfe had both fallen ; 
henceforth their names are to be inseparably joined. The 
perspective of history has given to both figures that dramatic 
interest which was lacking in the nearer view. 

On the grave of the one the crushed lilies of France are 
lying. From the grave of the other blooms to-day the rose 
of England's power. 



CHAPTER XIII 

1759-1760 

It was not until November that the good news of the fall 
of Quebec reached Annapolis, and there it was received 
with demonstrations of joy. Minute guns were fired from 
the battery, the militia were paraded, at night the town was 
illuminated, bonfires blazed on every hill, and the governor 
gave a great ball in the council chamber ; all of which is 
duly chronicled in the Gazette. The utmost loyalty to 
England was displayed, and Pitt was the hero of the hour. 

Peace now reigned on the borders of Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, and Maryland. By the capture of Niagara all 
the French posts south of Lake Erie had been cut off from 
their eastern connections, and therefore were abandoned. 
Henceforth, General Stanwix and his colleagues were able 
to defend the western frontier from French and Indian 
forays ; confidence was restored, deserted homesteads were 
again occupied, and the young knights who had won their 
spurs came back to their plantations. 

Governor Sharpe was now free to attend to home affairs — 
the renting of manors, the distribution of Church livings, 
and appointments to different offices connected with the 
government. As Lord Baltimore held very tightly in his 
own hands the reins of patronage, places were too often 
filled by unworthy favourites from over the sea ; and very 
diplomatic correspondence was necessary on the part of 
the governor. In connection with the appointment of 
Church livings in Maryland, which rested with the pro- 

176 



1759-1760 177 

prietary, the following letter from Calvert, the secretary, 
to Sharpe, shows in some manner how they were disposed of : 

' Sir, — Having forgot to mention in my Letter I put 
this in as Postscript. Mrs. Bladen having requested of My 
Lord for a Living on Behalf of a Scotchman who is Clergy- 
man and has married her Woman, my Lord desires you 
will present him with St. John's or Christ Church, small 
livings vacated in Queen Anne County. It will be proper 
having some Trial of him on Approbation.' 

That the state of the Church in Maryland at the time of 
Sharpe's arrival was deplorable is amply shown in his 
letters. In 1754 he writes to Lord Baltimore : ' I have 
taken the Liberty to enclose to your Lordship the copy of 
a Letter I lately received from the Rector of Coventry 
Parish, Somerset Co., a Person of a most abandoned and 
prostituted Life and Character ; which I apprehend he was 
invited to write me by my refusal to grant him a Nolo 
Prosequi, to prevent his being punished according to Law 
for marrying Persons without a Lycence. If your Lordship 
should be pleased to take any steps for his suspension or 
Removal the whole Parish wiU gladly transmit me attesta- 
tions of his notorious Immoral Behaviour, by which he 
has forfeited not only the Character of a Clergyman but 
even of a Christian.' Small wonder that George Whitefield, 
the celebrated preacher, when he visited the country, said 
he ' found a sad dearth of piety in Maryland ! ' In a letter 
to the Bishop of London, written during Horatio Sharpe's 
administration, Dr. Chandler says : ' The general character 
of the clergy is most wretchedly bad. It would really, my 
lord, make the ears of a sober heathen tingle to hear the 
stories that were told me by many serious people of several 
clergymen in the neighbourhood of the parish where I 
visited.' 

M 



178 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Though the Estabhshed Church was disgraced by the 
unworthy appointments to hvings made by the proprietary, 
there were notable exceptions — ' lights shining in a dark 
place ' — such as the Rev. Mr. Boucher and the Rev. Henry 
Addison. The latter writes to the Bishop of London 
strongly urging the expediency of establishing Episcopacy 
in America as the only means of saving the Church of 
England from destruction. Dr. Chandler writes : ' The In- 
habitants look upon themselves to be in the cruellest state 
of oppression with regard to Ecclesiastical matters. The 
churches are built and liberally endowed entirely at their 
expense, yet the Proprietor claims the sole right of patronage, 
and causes inductions to be made without any regard to the 
opinion of the Parishioners. Some who are inducted are 
knowia to be bad men at the very time. There is no remedy, 
as they cannot be removed even by the highest exercise of 
Proprietary power.' ^ Another writes : ' The clergy of Mary- 
land are better provided than those of any other colony, and 
they are less respectable.' This was not a matter of wonder, 
when we reflect that the needy friends of Frederick, Lord 
Baltimore, were frequently ordained in order to obtain the 
living in his province, where the stipends were large and 
the duties nominal. When Bennett Allen, a college com- 
panion of Lord Baltimore, asked what might be the 
yearly income of a certain parish in Maryland and was 
told £300, ' That,' said he, ' will hardly supply one with 
liquors.' 

In the meantime, while the Church of England was thus 
hampered, the Methodists, Presbyterians, German Lutherans, 
Baptists, and Quakers all increased ; and the Catholic 

^ ' The holder of an advowaon under Lord Baltimore was not amenable 
to any but crimmal law. The canon law could not remove him, nor could 
the Lord Proprietor who had sold him an advowson, a parish in other 
words, producing so many thousand pounds of tobacco.' — Schaiif- 



1759-1760 179 

Church flourished, particularly in the western part of the 
state. All were taxed for the support of the disreputable 
clergy of the Established Church ; which tax was a grievance 
that rankled in the minds of the people. Colonel Sharpe 
was a loyal member of the Church of England, and did 
what he could to uphold it by precept and example. 

The 17th of March 1760 was set apart to be observed 
throughout the province as a day of public thanksgiving 
for the many signal successes which it had pleased Almighty 
God to give to His Majesty's arms both by sea and land 
during the course of the last year, ' which day,' Governor 
Sharpe writes, ' was accordingly observed by myself and 
His Majesty's good subjects, the Inhabitants of Maryland, 
with such Solemnities as were suitable to so great an 
occasion.' Ex-Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, who was 
now residing in London, writes from there to his old friend 
Sharpe on the 12th February 1760, congratulating him on 
the repeated successes of the last campaign, and ' hopes 
that General Amherst in the ensuing summer m ill be able 
to take Mount Real.' Dinwiddie goes on to say : ' We 
had great rejoicings here on the above successes, and 
Admiral Boscawen's and Sir Edward Hanke's defeating 
two French Squadrons so effectually that 'tis thought it 
will be many years before the French can bring their navy 
into a respectable condition. After all our successes His 
Majesty and the King of Prussia proposed a Congress for 
bringing about a general Peace, but it appears this must 
be a work of time, as there has been no direct answer to 
the above generous Proposal, but all parties are preparing 
with great assiduity for the operations of the ensuing 
campaign. Our Ministry are very sanguine. A subscrip- 
tion was opened, and in a few days was subscribed eight 
millions for that service, which is all that was demanded 



180 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

or expected. The French have neither money nor credit. 
They have called in all their plate to the Mint to be coined. 
They stop payment of all their Funds. Annuities to the 
People not paid, Bills of Exchange of all kinds, by an 
edict from the Crown are not to be paid, which puts a 
general stagnation on their trade, and they cannot borrow 
money at 8 per cent, interest. In short I think that nation 
was never reduced to so low an ebb.' 

Hard pressed in Europe, France had neither money nor 
men to send to Canada, yet Vaudi-euil and de Levis hoped 
against hope that all might yet be retrieved. 

After Wolfe's death, as Monckton was wounded, and 
Townshend obliged to leave for England, General Murray 
was left in command at Quebec, with about four thousand 
able-bodied men, and two thousand invahds. The winter 
was severe, and provisions were scarce. Cold and privation 
told on the troops ; and when spring came there were not 
three thousand men fit for duty. Scurvy, fever, and 
dysentery had done their fatal work. 

On their side the French were exhausted with fatigue and 
lack of food ; but all through the winter the indefatigable 
de Levis drilled and encouraged his little army of three 
thousand regulars, and two thousand militia and savages, 
bidding them hope for a speedy victory. He laid his plans 
for an early descent on Quebec in the spring ; and, in the 
meantime, sent urgent appeals to France for aid. The 
Enghsh were well supplied with artillery, which the French 
lacked. When April came, after two or three feints, 
designed to put the English off their guard, the wily Marquis 
succeeded in drawing the English general outside the walls. 
On the 28th of April was fought the second battle of the 
Plains of Abraham, Sainte Foy, as it is generally called, 
where de Levis proved himself more than a match for 



!»• ■^■ 




CHEVALJER DE LEVIS 



[To /ace /: i8o 



1759-1760 181 

Murray ; although the latter succeeded, after heavy loss, 
in regaining the shelter of the fort. 

The English in Quebec were now on the defensive, and 
in a very critical position. Vaudreuil and de Levis were 
determined to prevent the junction of Murray with Amherst, 
while help from England was long delayed. In spite of 
his disabilities, Murray resolved to make a stubborn resist- 
ance ; and addressed these words to his troops : 

' If the issue of the action of the 28th of April has not 
been favourable to the arms of His Britannic Majesty, our 
affairs are not so discouraging as to deprive us of all hope, 
I know by experience the bravery of the soldiers under 
my command, and I am sure they will strain every nerve 
to regain what has been lost. A fleet is expected, and 
reinforcements are on their way. I ask the officers and 
soldiers to bear their fatigues with patience, and I beg 
that they will expose themselves with good heart to all 
perils ; it is a duty they owe their King and country.' 

In order to lighten the numbers dependent on him, 
Murray gave orders for the unfortunate inhabitants of 
Quebec to leave its walls ; and, in sullen misery, men, 
women, and children went forth to seek what subsistence 
they could find in the surrounding country. ^ 

General James Murray, on whom so much depended, was 
a son of Lord Elibank, and had served for some time on the 
Continent. He had commanded his brigade with much 
distinction at the taking of Quebec. 

This second siege of 1760 seems an anti-climax to the 
glorious victory of the year before ; and the fact that 
Quebec nearly fell again into the hands of the French is 

^ It was Wolfo who said in his first manifesto to the Canadian people : 
' Wo offer you the sweets of peace amid the horrors of war. England in 
her strength will befriend you. Franco in hor weakness leaves you to 
your fate.' 



182 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

often lost sight of. No wonder Horace Walpole exclaimed, 
when news came of Murray's defeat at Sainte Foy, ' America 
was like a book one has read and done with ; but here we 
are on a sudden reading our book backward.' Besieged 
and besiegers alike were exhausted waiting for the long 
expected succour from across the sea. Both sides knew 
that Quebec would be the prize of the one to whom help 
came first ; and de Levis and Murray both anxiously watched 
the river for the coming sails. At last, on the 9th of May, 
the two camps saw the long-looked-for ship doubling the 
Point of Orleans. Was it for France or England ? No 
standard fluttered from its mast. A cannon shot announced 
its arrival, and then, as the smoke cleared away, the English 
soldiers from the rampart, the French from the cliff, saw 
floating in the air the flag of England. 

It was a deathblow to the hopes of the French ; and on 
15th May, after the arrival of two other frigates, de Levis 
decided on raising the siege. Afterwards it was known 
that France had sent help. Several ships, loaded with 
provisions and munitions of war, and four hundred men, 
had crossed the Atlantic under the convoy of a frigate ; 
but had been chased and driven into the bale de Chaleurs, 
where the ships were burnt, the cargoes confiscated, and 
the men taken prisoners of war. 

There was nothing now to prevent Amherst from carrying 
out his final movement for the conquest of Canada. His 
plans had long been formed. He himself, with an army 
of ten thousand men, was to descend the St. Lawrence 
to Montreal, taking the river garrisons on the way, and 
cutting off the possible escape of the French by that route 
to Detroit. Murray, with the remnant of his troops, con- 
sisting of about two thousand five hundred men, and 
Lord Rollo, with thirteen hundred men from Louisbourg, 



1759-1760 183 

were to move cautiously up the river, which was now 
blockaded with English ships ; and Brigadier Haviland, 
with about three thousand men and armed vessels from 
Lake Champlain, was to force a passage from that lake and 
drive de Bougainville and his garrison from Isle aux Noix. 
It was all carried out with the utmost precision. The 
French were driven from Isle aux Noix, St. John, and 
Chambly to the St. Lawrence ; and the English troops, 
under the guidance of Rogers' Rangers, moved northward 
through the woods to meet Murray's army from Quebec. 
General Amherst had led his men safely up the Mohawk 
valley, across Oneida Lake, to Oswego on Lake Ontario. 
Here they embarked for their dangerous passage down the 
St. Lawrence. He writes on the 15th of August to Colonel 
Bradstreet : ' I write this from an Island some few miles 
down the river St. Lawrence, whither the army has got 
this day, after having met with some high winds and heavy 
Rains. Upon the whole, however, we have got on pretty 
well and lost but a few Batteaux ; and I intend to proceed 
to-morrow. I shall depend upon you for Provisions, and 
you will give orders to your people within the Communication 
to forward it up as fast as possible to Oswego.' 

This was the crowning point of Amherst's career. It was 
no light task to move ten thousand armed men, with all 
the munitions of war, including artillery, down that river 
in open boats, past dangerous rapids. These heavily laden 
bateaux had to pass the Galops, the Long Saut, the 
Coteau du Lac, the Cedars, and the Cascades. In the 
Cedars alone sixty-four boats were lost, and one hundred 
men. The cynical Horace Walpole even was moved to 
admiration at the exploit, and wrote : ' The spectacle 
rivalled the expeditions of ancient story, when the rudeness 
and novelty of naval armaments raised the first adventurers 



184 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

to the rank of demi-gods. That vast lake was to be tra- 
versed in open galleys, laden with artillery, not arrows and 
javelins. Wolfe, with all the formidable apparatus of 
modern war, had almost failed before Quebec ; Amherst 
with barks and boats invaded Montreal, and achieved the 
conquest, though, what would have daunted the heroes 
of antiquity, he had the cataracts to pass.' Sir Joshua 
Reynolds, in his well-lmown portrait, takes this bold descent 
of the St. Lawrence as the most heroic moment in Amherst's 
life, and represents him as standing upon a height at one of 
the rapids, watching the distant scene. The hero is clad 
in armour, with the full regalia of a I^ight of the Bath ; 
although it was not till the year after, 1761, that knight- 
hood was conferred on him at Staten Island, and the red 
ribbon of the Order placed over his shoulder by General 
Monckton, then governor of New York. 

It was on the morning of the 6th of September that the 
commander-in-chief landed his troops above the La Chine 
Rapids, about nine miles from Montreal, where de Levis, 
with the remnant of his shattered army, stood at bay. 
The next morning General Murray landed below the town ; 
while the tents of Haviland were pitched on the south shore. 
The English army closed round Montreal, and on the 8th 
of September 1760, in spite of the remonstrances of the 
gallant de Levis, who wished to fight to the last, Vaudreuil, 
knowing all resistance was futile, signed the capitulation 
which surrendered all Canada to the English crown. 

Vaudreuil returned to France, only to be cast into the 
Bastille, from which he emerged cleared, indeed, from the 
charge of malfeasance in office, but only to survive a few 
years with broken health and fortunes. It was a hard fate 
for a man, who, although rather boastful as to his military 
performances, was still a good and popular governor of 



1759-1760 185 

Canada. The more fortunate de Levis, who had fought 
to the uttermost for the glory of France, again sought 
active service with the Prince of Conde ; was made a 
marshal in 1783, and the following year, a duke and peer 
of France. He died in 1787. 

General Murray, who had distinguished himself so much 
during this trying year, was appointed the first English 
governor-general of Quebec, which then meant all Canada. 
He continued in that office until 1767, and won the good- 
will of the French in a very high degree. After leaving 
Canada he distinguished himself still further in the field ; 
particularly in the defence of Minorca, in 1781, against the 
Duke de Crillon, who was at the head of a large Spanish 
and French force. There is a story connected with this 
defence which may well be repeated. De Crillon, despairing 
of success, thought that a bribe of a million sterling would 
gain the surrender of the fort, and offered that sum to the 
gallant British general. Murray, like the fiery Scot that 
he was, indignantly replied : ' When your brave ancestor 
was desired by his sovereign to assassinate the Duke de 
Guise, he returned the answer,^ which you should have 
thought of, when you attempted to assassinate the character 
of a man whose birth is as illustrious as your own. I can 
have no further communication with you but in arms. If 
you have any humanity, pray send clothing for your un- 
fortunate prisoners in my possession ; leave it at a distance 
to be taken up for them, because I will admit of no contact 
for the future, but such as is hostile to the most inveterate 
degree.' 

To which the duke replied : ' Your letter restores each 

^ When Henry iii. of France in 1588 asked the Due de Crillon, com- 
mandant of the Guards, to rid him of the troublesome Due de Guise, his 
answer was, ' Sir, I am a soldier, not an assassin.' 



186 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

of us to our places ; it confirms in me the high opinion 
which I have always had of you. I accept your last 
proposal with pleasure.' 

Murray died in 1794, full of years and honours ; and was 
buried in Westminster Abbey. Quebec still preserves many 
mementoes of this brave general, whose name is com- 
memorated there in hamlet, bay, and river. 

As for Amherst, rewards and honours were heaped upon 
him. Parliament gave him a vote of thanks. He was 
appointed governor-general of British North America ; 
including at that time not only the French territory which 
had just been ceded, but those ' thirteen jarring common- 
wealths,' which were so soon to pass from the sway of 
England. 

In the first glow of triumphant victory all were loyal to 
the core. Throughout the churches of the land the pulpits 
resounded with Amherst's praises. In a sermon preached 
in the old south church in Boston the pastor said : ' We 
behold His Majesty's victorious troops treading upon the 
high places of the enemy, their last fortress delivered up, 
and their whole country surrendered to the King of Great 
Britain, in the person of his general, the intrepid, the serene, 
the successful Amherst.' 

Jeffery Amherst's name lives in counties, towns, and 
colleges throughout the United States ; while in Canada, 
where he won his fame, the same memorials are to be found. 
He returned to England in 1763, and for the rest of his 
days was a popular hero. He was made commander-in- 
chief of the forces of Great Britain ; and during the 
American Revolution was the military adviser of the English 
Government. He remained royal governor of Virginia 
until 1768, though he never revisited America. In 1771 
he was made Baron Amherst of Holmesdale ; and in 1787 



1759-1760 187 

received another title, when he was created Lord Amherst 
of Montreal. He refused an earldom in 1795, but was made 
a field marshal in the following year, and died in 1797 
at the age of eighty. He left no children, but was suc- 
ceeded in his title and estates by his nephew William Pitt 
Amherst, son of that brother who had been his aide-de- 
camp at Louisbourg. The second Lord Amherst added 
still further lustre to the fame of the family by his great 
services in India, when he was governor-general from 1823 
to 1828. Sir Joshua Reynolds's splendid portrait of Jeffery 
Amherst hangs at the family seat, ' Montreal,' Seven Oaks, 
Kent. The coat of arms of this distinguished general bears 
a motto which was the keynote of his life : ' By Constancy 
and Valour.' 



CHAPTER XIV 

1760-1765 

Horatio Sharps had now been governor of Maryland for 
seven years, and was apparently quite content to remain 
there. 

Early in his administration he had bought a beautiful 
estate on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, about eight miles 
from Annapolis. Here he built a fine country house named 
Whitehall, whose solid walls bear witness to-day to the 
good workmanship of the eighteenth century. A fine 
brickyard and sawmill had been early established on his 
property to furnish materials not only for his own mansion, 
but for friends building houses in Annapolis. Their solid 
walnut window frames and sills, beautiful floors of hard 
pine laid on locust beams bear evidence of the skill in 
seasoning and preparing lumber of those workmen of a 
century and a half ago. Hand-wrought nails testify to 
their labour as mechanics. 

The governor spent as much of his time as was possible 
at Whitehall, amusing himself with his favourite pursuit 
of farming, and consulting with his friend Judge Borfley 
on the best methods of improving agriculture and developing 
home industries. An old mill was eventually converted 
ill a loom and spinning factory, where wool from his famous 
South Devon flock and cotton and flax were spun and 
woven into clothes for ' my people,' as Sharpe calls them. 
They were emphatically ' his people ' ; no kinder master 

188 
















I 







^ 



1760-1765 189 

could be found, and his large retinue of negro slaves and 
indentured white servants were supremely happy. 

The duty of looking after the welfare and comfort of 
those under him was faithfully discharged. His garden was 
his passion, and seeds and scions of trees and rare shrubs 
and flowers to beautify it were sent for from Holland 
and England and France. The fine orchards and lawns 
sloping to the blue Chesapeake Bay were his pride and 
delight. Those who visit Whitehall to-day can see the 
results of his horticultural skill. 

With reference to this farm, as the governor called it, 
Calvert writes : ' Captain Love having hinted to me of 
your desire of some English Hares he informs me you 
have a villa and grounds to keep them in. It gives me 
pleasure your being in such a situation, the recess of 
Happiness. I have ordered Hares to be got at Woodcote. 
The Steward has ketched four Brace. I shall have them 
augmented to more if I can and send them by Captain 
Love.' As to the hares, Sharpe writes some months after- 
wards : ' I am very much obliged to you for the Present 
of English hares and Dogs you were so kind as to send me 
by Captain Love, who I daresay took all possible care of 
them. Unluckily all the Hares except a Leash died at sea, 
and one of them also the day after they were brought hither. 
I am much afraid the surviving Brace which I have turned 
out at my farm are infected with the same disorder.' 

Various and curious presents were sent by the governor to 
Lord Baltimore — sometimes a pipe of Maryland burgundy 
or good madeira, mellowed in the cellars of Whitehall ; 
sometimes a dozen smoked hams ; quail and partridge and 
wild turkeys, and even Indian scalps and rattlesnakes. 
Sharpe writes : ' Mr. Calvert having intimated to me that 
your Lordship was desirous of having some dried Rattle- 



190 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

snakes I sent home some of them powdered by a ship of 
Colonel Lloyd's. Since I have been here I have collected 
about a dozen more that I shall send by the first vessel 
that sails from this Province.' A curious inquirer may 
find in the list of medicines used in the eighteenth century 
a powder made from dried rattlesnakes as a specific for 
rheumatism. 

Whitehall, we read, was furnished in the best of taste, 
for the governor was somewhat of a connoisseur, and costly 
wood and rarest marble adorned his country home. A 
story is attached to the decoration of the house which 
gives a pathetic touch to its history. Among the indented 
servants of Horatio Sharpe was a young redemptioner who 
had been shipped to the plantations as a criminal. Touched 
with pity for the youth, the governor took him into his own 
household at Whitehall, where he soon showed his aptitude 
for woodcarving. Day by day he worked, until halls and 
rooms were enriched by his wonderful skill. How he had 
been taught none knew, for he never broke the silence con- 
cerning his past ; but his whole soul was thrown into his 
daily task. At last it was finished, and with it too ended 
the young life that had faded away under the shadow of 
reproach. A few days after his death proofs came from 
England of his innocence of the crime for which he had 
suffered. They came too late. His grave was his only 
portion in the land of his captivity, but his monument 
remains in the house adorned by his genius. The memory 
of the young woodcarver is still cherished at Whitehall. 

Horatio Sharpe had a warm friendship for his young 
secretary, John Ridout, and sought his advancement in 
every possible way. No post fell vacant but he thought 
IVIr. Ridout was qualified to fill it. He writes to Lord 
Baltimore on the 27th of March 1760 : 




bOUTH DOORWAY OF THE HALL AT WHITEHALL 



[ To /ace /. tqo 



1760-1765 191 

' My Lord, — Having been just now informed that Col. 
Wm. Goldsborough, whom your Lordship was sometime 
ago pleased to appoint a member of the Council and Upper 
House, is so extremely ill that his Life is despaired of, I 
take the Liberty to transmit this by the way of New York, 
to advise your Lordship thereof and at the same time to 
recommend to your Lordship's favourable notice a gen- 
tleman whom I hope you will think worthy of it and of 
succeeding Col. Goldsborough in case the Distemper with 
which he is afflicted should carry him off. The person in 
whose behalf I am thus addressing your Lordship is Mr. 
Ridout, who came with me from England in the character 
of my Secretary, having been introduced to my Brother 
Doctor Sharpe by the Professor of Hebrew in the University 
of Oxford, where he had studied near five years and taken 
a Degree. Your Lordship may probably remember that 
he had the honour of being in your Lordship's company 
together with myself two or three times, tho' not long 
enough perhaps to be much noticed. Ever since my 
arrival in Maryland he has resided with me as a companion, 
still acting as my private Secretary, which your Lordship 
will imagine hath given him more opportunities than any 
other gentleman could have of making himself acquainted 
with your Lordship's affairs and with whatever has in earlier 
times, as well as during my administration, been transacted 
in the Province. I need not, I apprehend, assure your 
Lordship that unless I was entirely satisfied with his Conduct 
since he has been known to me I should not presume to 
mention him in this manner, and since your Lordship in 
December 1756 was pleased to return him thanks, as Mr. 
Calvert signified to me in a letter of that date, for his 
assiduity in turning over all the Council Records in order 
to draw up an historical account or state of the several 



192 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Revenue Laws, which had been passed here since the Settle- 
ment of the Country, I flatter myself your Lordship had 
from that Performance conceived a good opinion of him, 
and that therefore it will not be necessary for me to say 
anything more in his favour.' 

The governor's wish was gratified, and on the death of 
Mr. Goldsborough, John Ridout, then twenty-eight years 
old, was made a member of the King's Council, or Upper 
House, a position which he held until the revolution, when 
proprietaries, king's councils, and English governors were 
swept away. 

The appointment of John Ridout to various important 
positions excited the jealousy of certain individuals, one 
of whom wrote a letter to Secretary Calvert, which the 
latter repeated to Sharpe as follows : 

' " What a ferment the people are in upon the strange 
unaccountable unprecedented advancement of John Ridout 
to a seat in the Council, and as if there was to be no end 
to the Indignities offered to his Lordship's government 
and the people of this Province, the same Ridout is actually 
put into the office of Commissary General, a place of the 
highest honour and trust in the gift of His Lordship, which 
requires a considerable knowledge of the laws of England 
as well as a thorough insight into the constitution of the 
Province. To how low a state His Lordship's government 
is reduced by such a promotion ! Why this mark of favour 
to him, against rank and fortune of others, and a long course 
of important services to His Lordship ? Why so many 
gentlemen in the Council, and so many others out of it, 
who have fifty times his capacity to support the right of the 
Proprietor, and to serve the People, thus insultingly trampled 
upon to make way for this obscure child of Fortune ? " 
This I insert to show what abuse they are arrived at.' 







•V^ o'^'^ K 




i^^ 



1760-1765 193 

The governor again takes up the cudgels on behalf of 
his secretary, an anonymous pamphlet having also appeared 
with an attack on the latter's appointment to office. 
Sharpe writes : ' I am confident there is not a gentleman 
in the Province, acquainted with Mr. Ridout, who does not 
condemn the author for expressing himself after that 
manner. He is, I am satisfied, well esteemed by most 
of the Principal people in the Province that know him, 
particularly the gentlemen of the Council. Who, pray, are 
said to be those persons of Rank, Fortune, and Superior 
Capacity whose long course of important services have gone 
unrewarded ? If there are any, either in or out of the 
Council, who have devoted as much time to the business of 
his Lordship and the government as Mr. Ridout hath 
already done, who are better acquainted with the Constitu- 
tion or political history of the Province, and have so much 
inclination to serve his Lordship, the Letter writer would 
have done well to point them out. Even his not having 
been born in Maryland was mentioned as what ought to 
have been an insuperable objection to his promotion ; and 
as he had no family connection or large estate here it was 
insinuated that he had no inducement to consult and 
promote the welfare of the Province. As Mr. Ridout is 
with my consent and approbation, as well as with that of 
Mr. Tasker, her grandfather and guardian, about to make 
an alliance with the eldest daughter and eldest child of the 
late Governor Ogle, those who may have hitherto considered 
him an ahen, and not interested in the Prosperity of the 
Province, will not long have an opportunity of mentioning 
his want of connections here as either a fault or a mis- 
fortune.' 

Congratulatory letters to Mrs. Ogle on the engagement of 
her daughter to one so highly esteemed, from the Bladum 

N 



194 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

and other relations in England, are preserved in Mr. Ridout's 
home at Annapohs. 

With reference to Mr. Ridout's appointment as agent for 
Lord Baltimore, Sharpe writes : ' If it should be thought 
that this is a place of too great consequence for one that 
has never been employed by your Lordship in one of less 
importance I can only say that has been his misfortune. 
I have more than once expressed an earnest desire to have 
it in my power to bestow one on him and to convince him 
as well as the gentlemen of the Province how much I regard 
and esteem him. I shall only add on the present occasion 
that altho' he is not possessed of an-; Estate which might 
be thought a sufficient security for the due Discharge of 
such a Trust as the Agency he can prevail on many gentle- 
men of Fortune in the Province to become joint Sureties 
with him, or if that is not sufficient he has a very nigh 
relation in England that hath a Landed Estate in Somerset- 
shire worth upwards of 12,000 pounds sterling, who, he 
is persuaded, would, if security is required to be given in 
England, become surety on his Behalf.' 

The consent of the governor to his secretary's marriage 
is magnanimous if the story current in the province be true 
that Horatio Sharpe was himself enamoured of the fair 
Mary Ogle. Youth triumphed over rank, and the handsome 
and talented young secretary was chosen instead of the 
more mature governor. This episode, however, did not 
interrupt their friendship, and in the solid brick house 
built by John Ridout in Duke of Gloucester Street, where 
he brought his young wife in 1765, and where his descendants 
stiU live, there is a room known as Colonel Sharpe's room, 
which was always ready when he chose to pay a visit to 
town, especially after he gave up his town residence to 
Governor Edeix. 



1760-1765 195 

News came early in 1761 of the death of George ii. 
in October 1760, and the usual formal condolences 
were passed between the officials on both sides of the 
Atlantic, though formal indeed must have been their senti- 
ments of grief, for he had not been beloved by the nation, 
while the advent of an English-born monarch was hailed 
with joy. Calvert writes to Sharpe from London on 30th 
October : ' I condole with you on the melancholy Event of 
the Death of our late Most Gracious Sovereign, alleviated 
in our grief by His present Majesty's accession to the Throne, 
a glorious prospect to us and all his subjects from his 
benevolent and benign Princely Qualities. Enclosed you 
have the Lord Proprietor's Orders and Instructions for 
Proclaiming His Majesty's Accession to his Imperial Realms. 
The immediate departure of the packet allows me only to 
say of our joy for the taking of Montreal and the Possession 
of Canada. His Majesty died at Kensington Palace the 
25th inst.' 

This reached Annapolis on the 23rd of January 1761, 
and the governor in a letter of the 28th January describes 
the proclamation of George iii., which being the last 
ceremony of the kind in Maryland, is worthy of note : 

' Yesterday then being the day appointed for proclaiming 
His Majesty in this City, at 11 o'clock the Armourer began 
and fired 34 minute guns from the Battery, the Colours or 
Flag being hoisted half-staff high, and about noon several 
gentlemen of the Council, the county Justices, the Members 
of the Corporation and many other gentlemen having 
assembled at my House we went thence in procession, 
being preceded by four Deputy Sheriffs with white wands 
to the Stadt House Hill, where the City Company and some 
of the Country Militia being drawn up, received us with 
rested Arms, and after a few minutes His Majesty King 



196 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

George the Third was proclaimed by us on the Parade in 
the form of words directed by the Lords of Trade. As soon 
as the proclamation was read there were three loud shouts 
of " Long live King George the Third," then, the Flag 
having been hoisted quite up, a Royal Salute of 21 guns 
was fired from the Battery and the Militia fired three 
volleys. Then having drank His Majesty's Health, for 
which purpose wine and punch had been brought on the 
parade, the principal gentlemen who attended on the 
occasion returned and dined at my House, and when His 
Majesty's health was drank again, after Dinner, the Battery 
fired another Royal Salute.' 

Who would have thought then that soon many of those 
same loyal gentlemen would be in arms against that most 
gracious Sovereign whose reign seemed to have begun so 
peaceably ! 

Secretary Calvert writes in October 1761 to Sharpe : 
' This year has been very joyous attended with the greatest 
Festivals : His Majesty's Marriage and the Queen's Corona- 
tion, of which the splendour and brilliant Magnificence is 
beyond my description. From the armies in Germany not 
much Action, having rested mostly on the Defensive. His 
Majesty on the West Coast of France has Belleisle in hand, 
and in possession of Pondicherry in the East Indies and the 
Isle of St. Domingo in the W. Indies, besides the capture 
of some men of war.' Another important item of news 
follows : ' Mr. Secretary Pitt, in his full glory, has resigned 
the Seals of Secretary of State. Mr. Pitt's resignation seems 
to a'stem'd the administration.' 

Pitt, the popular idol, not being in accord with the royal 
favourite, the Earl of Bute, on the subject of a war with 
Spain, resigned, and remained out of office until 1766. 
Meanwhile the ship of state rolled helplessly in a sea of 



1760-1765 197 

troubles under the successive guidance of Bute, Grenville, 
and Rockingham. 

In one of Secretary Calvert's interminable letters there is 
a curious account of an interview with George iii., wherein 
His Majesty inquired about Maryland and its governor. 
Calvert says : ' His Majesty was pleased to admit me alone 
with him about an hour. Inter al. he spoke of Maryland, 
asked if the province was quiet. I replied yes. Says he, 
" Quite quiet ? " I answered, " So please you, sir, save 
such persons as are in all governments of Discontented 
minds and mischievous too often thro' self-interest and 
ambition." He smiled and said, " Of that I know." He 
asked how the Governor pleased ? I reply 'd, " Very well." 
He then said, " What is your opinion of him ? " I reply 'd, 
" That of a person brave and resolute and of real honesty 
and in the due execution and administration of Govern- 
ment, very adroit and all Deserving." I also took the 
liberty to refer him of your military character to His High- 
ness the Duke of Cumberland, who, I knew, had spoken 
and had recommended you in Council to His late Majesty, 
and was the cause of much Honour done to you, viz., that 
of His Majesty's commission and command of His Majesty's 
forces in America, which Honourable Post you held until 
the arrival of General Braddock. He asked how long you 
had been governor. I reply'd about eight years. I ought 
to have said about ten, but was by awe confused. His 
Majesty after a little pause was most graciously pleased 
to say, " You give me pleasure in your character of him, 
and I well approve of him." This Testimony of His 
Majesty's approbation of you is Fact.' 

It is not chronicled that the worthy governor ever knew 
the opinion expressed of him by the late King, George n., 
who, as Walpole relates, when urged by Sharpe's friends 



198 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

to continue him in command of the forces in America 
because of his exceeding honesty, replied, 'A httle less 
honesty and a little more ability might on the present 
occasion better serve our turn.' 

Another letter from Secretary Calvert is found in 
the collection concerning the management of the trouble- 
some House of Assembly. It begins : ' To His Excellency 
Horatio Sharpe on a Question propounded and a general 
view of the constitution and Government of Maryland and 
of proper Regulations to prevent Turbulent and Malevolent 
Spirits and those prejudices against his Lordship's Just 
Rights.' 

The scheme propounded by the wise Csecilius was no less 
than buying up the Lower House, and in a lengthy document 
he lays out his plan. His estimate of the members was : 
' That whatever noise and clamour may be raised under 
the appearance of consulting and promoting the welfare 
of the people, 19 in 20 of these only consult their own 
private interest, therefore by throwing out a sop in a proper 
manner to these noisy animals it will render them not only 
silent but tame enough to bear stroking, and tractable 
enough to follow any directions that may be thought fit 
to be given them.' He goes on to say : ' I do not mean 
the buying of those who are pleased to call themselves 
Leaders, for the insignificant and worthless would demand 
and expect a very considerable price, and one would no 
sooner be bought ofif than their numbers would be Increased 
by others starting up ; but instead of this I would take off 
their followers and leave the Leaders with so slender a Train 
as to prevent their doing any mischief.' 

This was his plan as laid down in the letter : ' There are 
58 members of the House, 14 counties send four each, and 
the City of Annapolis sends two. Now the business is to 



1760-1765 199 

find baits for thirty of these, which number is a clear 
majority supposing they were all to attend. 

' To answer the purpose I would appropriate the 14 
Sheriffs' places, which will undoubtedly secure 14 members, 
and may by good management secure double that number. 
There are 14 Farmers of His Lordship's Quit Rents, 14 
Deputy Commissioners, and 14 Deputy Surveyors. All 
these places are considerable to the middling sort of people 
of whom the Lower House is composed, and might gain a 
great majority of that House by being properly applied 
amongst them, their Brothers and Sons,' 

This scheme is elaborated through many pages, and 
concludes with this : ' The foregoing plan supposes that 
these favours are to be earned before they are obtained, 
and indeed it is much more safe and prudent that these 
gentlemen should trust to the Honour of the Govern- 
ment than that the Government should trust to their 
gratitude.' 

A postscript says : ' The purpose of this Epistle is on no 
account designed towards corrupt views. But as malig- 
nancy is prevalent your strict Honour is relyed on, that 
you keep secret the name to this Letter and against 
accident by Mortality, after you have considered the sub- 
stance you are desired to extinguish this letter. Keeping 
it till then in close privacy that none may see or get a 
copy of it.' 

The letter was not extinguished, but has remained among 
the flotsam and jetsam of that politically corrupt eighteenth 
century. Sharpe's answer to this epistle is also preserved. 
He disapproves of the plan, not apparently on account of 
its immorality, but because, as he writes to Calvert, ' How- 
ever plausible the Scheme proposed in your letter might 
appear in Theory, it never can efl^ectually be carried into 



200 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Practice. That a great Influence hath at times been 
gained by the British House of Commons by such means 
is certain, but it cannot be thence inferred that the same 
might easily be done here. Let it be considered how many 
hundred offices, Civil and Military, are in the gift of the 
Crown ; that by means of a great number of Boroughs 
many of the Gentlemen who enjoy these offices get returned 
to Parliament ; that it is the Interest of almost all the 
Lawyers in the Kingdom to defend the measures that are 
pursued by the government, and one cannot be surprized 
that the Ministry should have always a majority in the House 
of Commons ; but in this Province affairs are very differ- 
ently circumstanced. The only way, then, in my opinion, 
for His Lordship to obtain a sohd and lasting Influence, 
and the measure I would advise him to, was I now writing 
my last letter, is to appear steady and resolute ; to reward 
as far and as often as it is in His Power those who behave 
themselves well, but never bribe any of those who endeavour 
to carry their Points by Violence.' 

The Peace of Paris was signed in 17C3, but in the colonies 
there was still unrest, for Pontiac's fiery spirit had roused 
the Indians, and blazing farms and desolated hearths, and 
ruined forts, marked the path of the avenger of his people. 
Except with reference to the province of Maryland it is not 
the place here to enter into the exciting incidents of that 
Indian war known as the conspiracy of Pontiac. Parkman, 
with his magic pen, has told the thrilling story. Suffice it 
to say that from 1763 to 1766, when the bold chief, deserted 
by his tribes, gave up his lost cause and submitted to the 
terms offered him by Sir William Johnson, the frontiers of 
all the colonies were in constant dread and peril. 

Lord Baltimore was now, in the summer of 1763, in 
Constantinople, but being informed of the new depredations 



1760-1765 201 

of the Indians on the frontiers of Maryland, sent, through 
Secretary Calvert, the sum of £200 to be expended in 
powder and ball for the defence of the province. The 
Gazette has the following letter describing the state of affairs 
on the Maryland frontier : 

' Frederick Town, 19^/i July 1763. 
' Every day for some time has been offered the melan- 
choly scene of poor distressed families driving downwards 
through this town who have deserted their plantations, for 
fear of falling into the hands of our savage enemies, now 
daily seen in the woods, and never was panic more general 
or forcible than that of the back inhabitants whose terror 
at this time exceeded what followed on the defeat of General 
Braddock when the frontier lay open to the incursions of 
both French and Indians.' That Lord Baltimore's present 
came just in time is shown by this letter, which continues : 
' In Conococheague settlement the officer in charge of the 
small fort there called the town Company together and 
organized for defence. Just as the drum beat to arms we 
had the satisfaction of seeing a wagon sent up by His 
Excellency the Governor loaded with powder and lead — 
of the greatest importance at this critical juncture when 
the whole country had been drained of those necessary 
articles by the diligence of our Indian traders who had 
bought up the whole for the supply of our enemies, to be 
returned as we have dearly experienced in death and 
desolation upon us. Had not the Governor's supply arrived 
so seasonably it was doubted whether the whole Town 
could have furnished ammunition sufficient for that small 
party half of which marched backwards in high spirits on 
Thursday and the remainder on Friday.' 

Fort Pitt had been surrounded and isolated in July, and 



202 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

General Amherst sent Colonel Bouquet ^ with five hundred 
men to relieve it and drive off the savages. On the way 
was fought, on the 5th of August, the famous battle of 
Bushy Run, where after a two days' fight the Indians were 
put to flight. Four days afterwards Bouquet and his force 
reached Fort Pitt, where they were received with joy and 
relief by the hard-pressed little garrison. The Indians 
had fled on Bouquet's approach. 

In 1764 a treaty was made by Sir William Johnson with 
all the Indian tribes of the Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and 
Michigan. The Shawanese and Delawares on the frontiers 
of Maryland and Virginia had not joined in the treaty, and 
therefore Lieutenant-Colonel Bouquet was sent by General 
Gage, the new commander-in-chief, to punish them for the 
depredations they had committed. Bouquet found on his 
way that a treaty, which he considered disgraceful, had been 
concluded with them by Colonel Bradstreet. Hearing, 
however, of renewed attacks on their part. Colonel Bouquet 
advanced into the heart of their country, determined to 
chastise them for their perfidy. As the victor of Bushy 
Run his name inspired terror, and the dusky warriors were 
compelled to sue for peace, deliver up their prisoners, and 
bring their chiefs and warriors as hostages. Having secured 
peace on stern terms. Bouquet returned to Fort Pitt, and 

^ Henry Bouquet was born at Rolle in the canton'of Berne, Switzerland, 
in 1719. In 1736 he entered as a cadet in the regiment of Constant, in 
the service of Holland. Thence he passed into the service of the King of 
Sardinia, and distinguished himself in the wars against France and Spain. 
The account he wrote of these campaigns attracted the notice of the 
Prince of Orange, who engaged him in the service of the Republic. He was 
made Lieutenant-Colonel in the regiment of Swiss Guards at the Hague in 
1748. At the breaking out of the war in America in 1754 he was 
appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Roj'al American Regiment, in which 
he served with great distinction. 

At the close of the Indian war he hoped to return to Europe, but was 
given the command in the southern district, and died at Pensacola of 
fever in 1765. 



1760-1765 203 

soon after for his services was promoted to the rank of 
brigadier-general. 

There was another subject that engaged the attention of 
the governor during these years, and that was the boundary 
question. For nearly a century the dispute as to the 
boundaries of their respective domains had been waged by 
the proprietaries of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Finally, 
in 1760, an agreement was entered into by Lord Baltimore 
and Thomas and Richard Penn that a definite survey should 
be made ; and commissioners were appointed from each 
province to overlook the work. For Maryland the com- 
missioners were the governor, Hon. B. Tasker, Edward 

Lloyd, Daniel Dulany, Stephen Bordley, and the Rev. 

Malcolm. On Mr. Tasker 's death Sharpe nominated John 
Ridout to take the vacant place, as ' being capable of serving 
his Lordship and giving us assistance as any member of his 
Lordship's Council.' The Pennsylvania commissioners were 
James Hamilton, William Allen, Richard Peters, Benjamin 
Chew, Lynford Lardner, Ryires Holt, and George Stephen- 
son. There were many and great difficulties to be sur- 
mounted : want of proper instruments, perils by Indians, 
perils by fever. Sharpe reports : ' The Surveyors have broke 
off work as they could no longer take observations after the 
manner they had done before, the Polar Star and the Star 
called Alioth now transiting the meridian in the daytime.' 

Work was carried on in a dismal part of the country 
abounding with marshes. The governor reported that 
both he and his secretary, John Ridout, had been on a tour 
of inspection of the survey, and had contracted fever and 
ague at a place called Marshy Hope in Dorchester County. 

Calvert ^vrites with reference to this : ' His Lordship 
desires you will not be so free with your health improperly. 
He thinks you of too much consequence to him to risque 



204 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

your loss by intemperate air in the swamps, and returns 
you thanks for your care and Assiduity in running the 
Boundary Line.' 

Sharpe writes that some of the difficult questions con- 
cerning the boundary should be presented ' to the Considera- 
tion of some gentlemen who have devoted a great part of 
their lives to the Study of the Mathematicks and whose 
reputation is established. Such I presume are Doctor 
Bradley, Regius Professor of Astronomy at Greenwich, Mr. 
Senex the Map Maker, and Mr. Cockayne who reads lectures 
at Gresham College, but as these gentlemen may not be 
apprized of all the Difficulties which will attend running 
Lines on the Surface of the Earth, some thro' a Forest, 
some over Boggs and Marshes, and others over a hilly 
or mountainous country, and the difficulty which will 
attend the measuring such lines horizontally. Your Lord- 
ship will not think it amiss to submit the opinions or schemes 
of these gentlemen or any other Theorists whom you may be 
pleased to consult to the consideration of some Person that 
hath been used to run and measure Lines on the Surface of 
the Earth, for oftentimes a thing may appear very easy in 
Theory which the best Artist cannot carry with Practice.' 

At last, on the 4th of August 1763, Lord Baltimore and the 
Penns determined to send out Charles Mason and Jeremiah 
Dixon, ' two mathematicians or surveyors, to mark, run, 
settle, fix, and determine all such parts of the circle, marks, 
lines, and boundaries as were mentioned in the several 
articles of commissions, and were not yet completed.' 
Calvert writes of these men on 3rd September 1763 : 
' Jeremiah Dixon is of good skill, may peradventure be of 
use in Maryland. Charles Mason is regularly bred at the 
Philosophical Academy at G ' 

It is not necessary to enter into all the details of the very 




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FACSIMILE LETTER FROM THE BOUNDARY 





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^ Ji-P^^a/^ ^ — - — . 



COMMISSIONERS 10 GOVERNOR SHARPE 

[ Beliucen pp. 204 and 205 



1760-1765 205 

complicated question of the boundary. Volumes have been 
written on it. It was 1768 before the survey was completed, 
and the commissioners reported that they had finally settled 
on the eastern and northern boundaries of Maryland. The 
parallel westward dividing the province from Pennsylvania 
is the famous Mason and Dixon's line. The southern 
boundary between Maryland and Virginia, owing to the 
diflficulty of interpreting the description of what was the 
' first fountain of the Potomac,' is still unsettled. 

Lord Baltimore sent out at this time, 1765, a full-length 
portrait of himself (now in the Executive Chamber at 
Annapolis), which he desired the governor to place with 
the other portraits of his ancestors in the province. He 
also begs Horatio Sharpe to accept from him a small box 
of plate as a token of his friendship. 

In spite of all his faults, Lord Baltimore does not appear 
in the correspondence as the monster of iniquity he is so 
often painted, and one can understand the warm and loyal 
attachment felt for him by the worthy governor. William 
Hand Brown, editor of the archives of Maryland, says : ' An 
impartial examination of this correspondence throughout, 
will, the editor thinks, tend to modify the harsh judgment 
that has been generally passed on Frederick, sixth Lord 
Baltimore. It is true, he was neither a George nor a 
Csecilius ; but his letters and those of his secretaries, as 
well as his formal instructions, show a desire to deal justly 
and even generously with the people of his Province. From 
almost the very founding of the Colony there had been, as 
was natural enough, a party opposed to the Proprietary, 
and hostility to him was usually a sure road to popular 
favour. In Frederick's case this hostility was particularly 
fierce and unscrupulous, and the impressions it left have 
descended to our own time. 



206 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

' The editor confesses to having shared this prejudice, 
and in regard to an infamous charge brought against the 
Proprietary, alluded to in the correspondence, was inclined 
to believe it true until he read the official report of the 
trial and testimony of the witnesses, which left him con- 
vinced that the specific charge brought was untrue, and 
the whole affair an attempt at blackmail.' 

Some of these enemies were delinquents in financial trusts 
to the second proprietary. Investigations of the accounts 
of one in particular added to Sharpe's worries and harass- 
ments when settling Parson Allen's and Mr. Jordan's 
diflficulties. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE STAMP ACT 

In 1763 a new cabinet had been formed in England. George 
Grenville took the place of the Earl of Bute at the head of 
the Treasury, and the Earl of Egremont and Lord Halifax 
became secretaries of state. 

Immediately on its formation, Grenville renewed the 
attempt for the passage of a revenue bill extending the 
stamp duties to the colonies. On the 9th of March 1764 
he read in the House of Commons a series of resolutions 
declaring the intention of the Government to raise a revenue 
in America by a duty on stamped paper, announcing, 
however, that the colonies should have an opportunity of 
suggesting other modes of taxation. In August 1764 Lord 
Halifax wrote to Governor Sharpe announcing the intention 
of the Government to charge certain stamp duties in the 
colonies and plantations, a scheme which Pitt had charac- 
terised as taking an unjust and ungenerous advantage of 
them. The letter is as follows : 

'St. James's, llth August 1764. 
' Sir, — The House of Commons having, in the last session 
of Parliament, come to a Resolution by which it is declared 
that toward defraying the necessary expenses of defending, 
protecting, and securing the British Colonies and Plantations 
in America, it might be proper to charge certain Stamp 
Duties in the said Colonies and Plantations. It is His 
Majesty's pleasure that you should transmit to me without 

807 



208 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

delay a List of all Instruments made use of in Publick 
Transactions, Law Proceedings, Grants, Conveyances, 
Securities of land, or money within your Government with 
proper and sufficient Description of the same in order that 
if Parliament should think proper to pursue this Intention 
of the aforesaid Resolution they may thereby be enabled 
to carry it into Execution in the most effectual and least 
burthensome manner. — I am, with great truth and regard, 
Your most obedient humble servant, Halifax.' 

In America the question was discussed in public meetings, 
by the press, and by the people everywhere. In spite of 
the strongest representations against it the Act received 
the royal assent on the 22nd March 1765. This roused a 
spirit of indignation throughout the colonies, and the 
merchants entered into engagements not to import goods 
from England until the Act should be repealed. Massa- 
chusetts was particularly active in measures of resistance, 
and the House of Representatives proposed a meeting of 
committees from the burgesses of the several British colonies 
to consult together on the subject, and to draw up a loyal, 
humble, and dutiful representation of their condition to 
present to His Majesty, and to implore rchef. 

The day appointed was the first Tuesday in October 
1765. Maryland was requested to send delegates, and the 
House of Assembly concurred in the proposition. The 
Upper House and the governor sanctioned the measure, 
and there was an appropriation made of five hundred 
pounds to meet expenses. To show its detestation of the 
Stamp Act the Maryland Gazette went into mourning on 
the 10th of October, with a skull and crossbones on the 
front page representing the stamp. Everywhere in Mary- 
land passionate speeches were made against the Act, and 



THE STAMP ACT 209 

able pens were wielded in protestation. One especially 
powerful pamphlet, written by Daniel Dulany, had an 
immense influence. Reference was constantly made to the 
provision of the charter of Maryland, by which the king 
had renounced for himself and his successors all right to 
tax that province, transferring the power to the proprietary, 
who was to exercise it only by the advice and assent of the 
freemen, or a majority of them, 

A Mr. Hood had been appointed distributor of stamps 
in the province of Maryland, an office which, Sharpe says, 
' will probably be worth many hundreds a year, but is 
extremely unpopular.' 

On the 5th of tSeptember the governor wrote to Lord 
Halifax that the inhabitants of his province, incited by the 
example of the populace of Boston and other places, were 
not satisfied with expressing their indignation against Mr. 
Hood by hanging or burning him in effigy, but had assembled 
to the number of three or four hundred, and pulled down 
a house he was repairing for the reception of a cargo of 
goods. Sharpe says : ' Mr. Hood intimated to me that if I 
thought his resigning the office would reconcile his country- 
men to him, and if I would advise him to take the step he 
would do so. I could not take upon myself to give him 
such advice, and as both he and his Relations doubted 
whether he could, while the ferment continued, be safe in 
my or any other house in the Province, he has retired for a 
few weeks to New York.' Sharpe told Lord Halifax that 
if the stamped paper were to arrive he could not preserve 
it from being burnt, that he could not depend upon the 
militia to protect it, and therefore if a vessel should arrive 
with it he would caution the master against landing, and 
advise him to return to the men-of-war station in Virginia 
until the people showed a better disposition. In Sharpe's 

o 



210 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

letter to Lord Baltimore he still further describes the state 
of feeling in the province ; how the lawyers, almost without 
exception, were against the Act ; and the printers, who 
expected to be ruined by it, were constantly publishing 
articles calculated to raise the resentment of the colonies 
against the mother country ; that all through the several 
colonies those who had been appointed distributors were 
being treated with every indignity. Sharpe in his letter 
to Calvert wrote of another outbreak which might have 
had serious consequences : ' While the mob were still in a 
ferment after destroying Mr. Hood's house, the tender 
belonging to H.M.S. Hornet unluckily dropped anchor oS 
Annapolis. The people, thinking she had brought the 
stamped paper, boarded her, and the lieutenant in command, 
Mr. Mowbray, would give them no satisfaction as to his 
business. He went on shore with two Virginian gentle- 
men who had come with him, and ordered supper at the 
inn. While at supper one of the men who had boarded 
the tender came into the room with his hat on, and a 
paper on it with the words, " No Stamp Act," printed 
thereon. Mr. Mowbray put the man out of the room, 
and ordered four of his crew to keep him out and re- 
main with their arms at the Tavern door until the company 
should break up. Then a dispute arose between one of 
the Virginians, who was not sober, and a Mr. Hammond, 
one of the Representatives for the county. In order to 
determine the affair they agreed to have a bout at Boxing, 
in which Mr, Hammond got the worst of it. In order to 
make trouble, a man, supposed to be the one who was 
turned out of the tavern, went through the town crying 
that the officer of the Tender was murdering Mr. Hammond. 
This brought a mob together, who having weapons fell on 
the officer and wounded him, though not dangerously. 



THE STAMP ACT 211 

The Virginian, who had been the cause of the broil, had to 
swim for his hfe to the ship.' 

The governor invited Mr. Mowbray to his house until 
he should be recovered of his wound, and sent to England 
a proper account of the affair, fearing it might be considered 
a premeditated attack on His Majesty's authority. He 
thought Mr. Mowbray had been to blame in coming ashore 
when the people were in such a ferment, and also in ordering 
the crew to keep sentry armed at the tavern door. 

Colonel Sharpe continues : ' What lengths the people, 
now they have once begun, may go, is not easy to say, but 
as the inhabitants of all the colonies with regard to the 
Stamp Law seem to act as it were in concert, it will not 
I think be possible without a considerable Military Force 
in each Colony to let it have its effect.' 

Grenville had been dismissed from office in July 1765, 
and was succeeded as prime minister by the Marquis of 
Rockingham, with the Duke of Grafton and General Conway 
as secretaries of state. So little was the storm that had 
arisen in America expected in England that a letter came 
from the Treasury chambers, signed ' Charles Lowndes,' and 
dated 14th September, giving Governor Sharpe special 
instructions as to assisting the distributor of stamps in his 
province, and appointing under distributors in every town. 
The commander-in-chief had now ordered a hundred men 
of the Royal Highlanders to march from Pittsburg to 
Annapohs to quell any insurrection that might arise, but 
Sharpe's opinion was that it would be better to secure the 
stamped paper on one of H.M. ships, and not venture to 
land it. 

The governor had meanwhile received a petition from all 
the principal lawyers of the provincial court asking him to 
convene the assembly before the day to which it stood 



212 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

prorogued, that the representatives should meet in time 
enough to send some of their members to New York to join 
with those who should be there from the other colonies in 
a memorial for the repeal of the Stamp Act. Accordingly 
they met on the 23rd of September 1765, with a full house. 
After they had appointed three members to go to New 
York and made some resolutions showing their opinion of 
the Stamp Act, and after declaring what privileges the 
inhabitants of Maryland had a right to as British subjects 
under their special charter, they adjourned. The members 
were determined to do no business until their representa- 
tives should return from New York. 

Sharpe's dispatches were now addressed to General 
Conway, as secretary of state for the southern department. 
Conway writes from St. James's to Sharpe on the 24th of 
October : 

' Sir, — It is with the greatest concern that His Majesty 
learns the disturbances which have arisen in some of the 
North American colonies. If the evil should spread to the 
Government of Maryland where you preside, the utmost 
exertion of your prudence will be necessary so as justly 
to temper your conduct between that caution and coolness 
which the delicacy of such a situation may demand, on one 
hand, and the vigour necessary to suppress outrage and 
violence on the other. It is impossible, at this distance, 
to assist you by any particular or positive instruction, 
because you will find yourself necessarily obliged to take 
your resolution as particular circumstances and emergencies 
may require. It is hoped and expected that this want of 
confidence in the justice and tenderness of the Mother 
Country and this open resistance to its authority, can only 
have found place among the lower and more ignorant of 
the people. The better and wiser part of the colonies will 
















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THE STAMP ACT 213 

know that decency and submission may prevail, not only 
to redress grievances, but to obtain grace and favour ; while 
the outrage of a public violence can expect nothing but 
severity and chastisement. If, by lenient and persuasive 
methods, you can contribute to revive that Peace and 
TranquilHty to the Provinces on which their welfare and 
happiness depend, you will do a most essential and acceptable 
service to your country. But having taken every step which 
the utmost prudence and lenity can dictate in compassion 
to the folly and ignorance of some misguided people you will 
not on the other hand fail to use your utmost power for the 
repelling all acts of outrage and violence and to provide for 
the maintenance of peace and good order in the Province, 
by such a timely exertion of force as the occasion may 
require, for which purpose you will make the proper applica- 
tion to General Gage or Lord Colville, commander of His 
Majesty's land and naval forces in America.' 

At this time Csecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore's uncle and 
secretary, died, and his vague, incoherent, and verbose 
letters no longer appear in the correspondence. His place 
was filled by Hugh Hamersley, who announces his appoint- 
ment in a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe, dated the 
9th of November 1765, wherein he hopes ' that his obliga- 
tions to and his long connection with His Lordship, will 
effectually attach him to his interest, while the little know- 
ledge he has of the Colony may at the same time render him 
no unworthy servant of Maryland.' 

In the meanwhile, the unlucky stamps destined for Mary- 
land had been put for safe keeping by the governor of 
Virginia on board His Majesty's ship the Rainhoiv, Captain 
Stirling, commander, where they were to await further 
orders. Colonel Mercer, in whose charge the stamps had 
come from England, writes to Sharpe : ' Captain Stirling 



214 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

has with great Readiness, and most obliging condescension 
done everything in his power to reheve me from the most 
disagreeable commission I ever undertook, as I had the 
Stamps for three Provinces in Charge, and dared not let 
any one know where they were, though I must confess I 
was not a little apprehensive of an attempt to force the 
discovery from me. 

' Although the season is so far advanced, and I have 
not been more than ten days in America, I find myself 
under a necessity of returning immediately to England. 
I had the honour of being known to your brother, Mr. 
Philip Sharpe, whom I left well in London the last of 
August.' 

Zachariah Hood writes from New York to Sharpe giving 
an account of the state of affairs there. He says : ' They 
have hung and burnt the Governor here in Effige, burnt 
all his carriages which was the only things to be gott 
at, burnt Major James' furniture, who incurred their dis- 
pleasure. The Fort was expected to be attacked, but in 
order to prevent the consequences the Governor delivered 
up the Stamps to the Mayor and Corporation. They 
agreed to Protect the same, or if destroyed to pay what 
ever the Stamps might raise. Peace is restored to the 
City.' 

Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe writes to Lord Baltimore in 
November teUing him that not one of the persons appointed 
to distribute the stamps had ventured to act, and therefore 
scarcely any business, public or private, could be trans- 
acted, as the courts of law, custom-houses, and also public 
offices were in a manner shut up, and would remain so until 
it was known if the legislature of Great Britain meant to 
enforce the law or not. As the Act of Parhament enjoined 
the use of stamped paper in almost every transaction under 



THE STAMP ACT 215 

severe penalties, and there was no such paper to be got, 
no business could be done in the different departments. 

The new secretary, Hugh Hamersley, on the 20th of 
December, writes to Sharpe a resume of what passed in 
Parhament with reference to the Stamp Act. He tells him 
that Parliament met on the 17th of December, and he was 
present in the House of Peers. ' In an amendment to the 
address, the Earl of Suffolk proposed " to express to His 
Majesty the deep concern and indignation at the Dangerous 
Tumults and Insurrections which have been raised and 
fermented in His Majesty's Dominions of North America." 
The resolution continues, " We embrace with pleasure the 
earliest opportunity in our Power to assure His Majesty 
that, fully sensible of the indispensible necessity of Vindi- 
cating and Establishing the just power of the Legislature 
of Great Britain, we will cheerfully concur in every measure 
which may strengthen the hands of Government and 
enforce the Legal Obedience of the Colonies and their 
Constitutional Dependence on the Sovereign Authority 
of the Kingdom." This amendment was supported by the 
Earls of Hahfax, Sandwich, Gower, Temple and Buckingham, 
Lord Lyttleton and the Duke of Bedford. The members 
on a Division were twenty-four for it. It was opposed by 
the Duke of Grafton and the Earls of Shelburne, Dart- 
mouth, Pomfret, and Northington, the chancellor, who 
divided eighty against it.' 

Hamersley continues : ' Some general arguments used in 
favour of the amendment were that the connexion between 
Great Britain and her colonies was analagous to the relation 
between parent and child. For the parent not to correct 
or reprehend the undutiful child would argue weakness. 
That the colonies wanted to be supported with all the 
Military power of this country without paying for it, that 



216 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

they had been for some time endeavouring to shake off 
their Dependence, and the attempt had begun in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1756, by first refusing to assist government tho' 
the enemy was at their gates, and when afterwards they 
granted their aid, doing it in such a manner as to invade 
the King's prerogative. That the next attempt of the 
colonies would be for ridding themselves of the navigation 
act, " the great bulwark of the country," by Centring the 
trade of her colonies in herself, which they had long been 
aiming at, that is, they would choose to take their Com- 
modities from the French and Dutch rather than from their 
fellow-subjects because they could obtain them 25 per cent, 
cheaper. 

' The objections for want of Representation were absurd. 
Who were affected by the Duties on Hardware but the people 
of Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds, and how were they 
represented ? Were the Legislature always to be dictated 
to in Riot and Tumult ; the Weavers were at your door 
last year because you would not pass a law to please them, 
the Americans are this year up in arms because they do not 
like what you have passed. " First suppress the Rebellion, 
and then inquire into the grievances, if any there are." 
The speech and address were equally flimsy,' Hamersley 
writes, ' and might be construed to show the Parliament 
afraid or in doubt, and would give spirits to the riots unless 
checked by the amendment. 

' " It had been said that America was conquered in Grer- 
many," he continues to quote, " but give up the Law, and 
Great Britain would be conquered in America and become 
a Province of her own Colonies. America must submit." 
This last expression feU from the chancellor, and with the 
quotation from King William's act which was also made 
by him, sufficiently indicated his general Sentiments, tho' 



THE STAMP ACT 217 

he voted against the Amendment. Lord Shelburne, on the 
other side, alone ventured to launch a little out, intimating 
his sense for a repeal of the law which was not avowed by 
any other Lord. He said, " Before they resolved on each 
measure they should weigh the matter well. That the 
Romans planted their Colonies to increase their power, 
we to extend our Commerce. Precipitate measures might 
bring the Indians upon the Colonys, for Indians were no 
bad Politicians. Supposing there were a few Regiments 
in America, one or two at Halifax, and as many at Pensacola. 
Let them aU embark at once upon the same destination 
equally compleat Disciplined and victualled, and no inter- 
vening accident to disappoint the expedition, what could 
be effected by their little united efforts against Colonies so 
populous and of such a magnitude and extent ? " ' Hamersley 
continues : ' I was not present in the other House where 
a similar amendment was proposed by Mr. Grenville and 
afterwards withdrawn. Mr. Charles Townshend, tho' other- 
wise against the motion, said that sooner than make our 
colonies our Allies he would wish to see them returned to 
their primitive Deserts.' Hamersley goes on to say : ' By 
what I can recollect there seems a disposition in Govern- 
ment to relax and qualify the Law, at least attended 
probably with an Indemnity and Oblivion for what is past. 

* Pitt was expected in Town after the Recess to throw 
his weight into the Ministerial scale. Delay seemed desired 
by the Ministry.' 

When Pitt addressed the House on 16th January 1766, 
he said : ' It is a long time, Mr. Speaker, since I have 
attended in Parliament. When the resolution was taken 
to tax America I was ill in bed. If I could have endured 
to have been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation 
of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicitated 



218 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor to have 
borne my testimony against it. . . . It is my opinion that 
this kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the colonies. 
At the same time I assert the authority of this kingdom 
over the colonies to be sovereign and supreme in every 
circumstance of government and legislation whatsoever. 
. . . The gentleman tells us America is obstinate, America 
is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has 
resisted. Three millions of people so dead to aU the feel- 
ings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves would 
have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest. . . . 
The Americans have not acted in all things with prudence 
and temper ; they have been wronged ; they have been 
driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for 
the madness you have occasioned ? Rather let prudence 
and temper come from this side. I will undertake for 
America that she will follow the example. There are two 
lines in a ballad of Prior's of a man's behaviour to his wife, 
so applicable to you and your colonies, that I cannot help 
repeating them : 

" Be to her virtues very kind, 
Be to her faults a little blind." 

Upon the whole I will beg leave to teU the House what is 
my opinion. It is that the Stamp Act be repealed abso- 
lutely, totally, and immediately. At the same time let the 
sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be 
asserted in as strong terms as can be devised ; and be made 
to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever ; that 
we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and 
exercise every power whatsoever except that of taking 
their money out of their pockets without their consent.' 
Another powerful voice in favour of the repeal of the 



THE STAMP ACT 219 

Act was now raised in Parliament, for Edmund Burke, 
private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham, was 
returned to the Commons for the pocket borough of 
Wendover, and made his first speech in ParHament on the 
27th January 1766. 

In that month Hamersley writes to Governor Sharpe : 
' The affairs of America are now at their crisis. Both 
Houses of Parliament have been employed this week in 
reading the Papers laid before them by the Crown, which 
has been done in the most secret manner by excluding every 
other Individual from their walls, for as the private corre- 
spondence of the governors and other servants of the Crown 
in the different colonies makes a considerable part of the 
collection, they are justly apprehensive of the consequences 
to particular Persons should the contents by being made 
public find their way back to their proper colonies. As 
to censures, both parties seem concerned to Level them at 
each other.' 

In America all courts of justice and offices had been closed 
since November 1765. 

Hamersley writes again in February 1766 : ' The Stamp 
Act has undergone much discussion and Altercation in both 
Houses, where it is made the PoUtical Tub and Tryal of 
Skill between the Contending Parties, each of whom have 
alternately claimed the Royal support and countenance 
for the repeal or Enforcing of the Law : in consequence of 
which the Ministry have one day carried their question in 
the commons by a large majority and in two days after 
have been defeated in the Lords, where the strength of 
opposition lies tho' by small numbers. I apprehend the 
ground will be fought Inch by Inch with great obstinacy 
and in the Lords perhaps with no great inequality. But 
" magna est Veritas," and, I trust, " Prsevalebit." Enclosed 



220 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

I send you the Resolutions of the Lords, those of the 
commons are nearly the same. The great struggle was 
on the 1st Proposition asserting the universal sovereignty 
of the British legislature over all her colonies in all cases 
ivhatsoever.' 

It was Lord Camden, formerly Lord Chief-Justice Pratt, 
who was the great champion for America in the Lords. 
He objected to the words ' in all cases whatsoever.' He 
acknowledged that Daniel Dulany's able pamphlet, Con- 
siderations on the Propriety of imposing Taxes on the British 
Colonies for the Purpose of raising a Revenue by Acts of 
Parliament, had made a great impression on him. 

Tyler, in his literary history of the Revolution, says : 
' Three months after the publication of Dulany's pamphlet 
Pitt appeared in the House of Commons after a long absence 
and spoke with tremendous power in favour both of an 
immediate repeal of the Stamp Act and of the final abandon- 
ment of all measures dealing with the taxation of the 
colonies by Parliament. In one of the speeches he held 
up Dulany's pamphlet to the approval and admiration of 
the imperial legislature, and though but a meagre outline 
of his speech is now in existence, even from such outline 
it is made clear that in all but one of the great features of 
his argument as to the constitutional relations of Great 
Britain to her colonies, he followed the very line of 
reasoning set forth by Daniel Dulany — an old Eton boy 
himself.' 

Hamersley continues in his letter to Sharpe : ' Lord 
Camden argued that it appeared from the fundamentals 
of the Constitution that the People had always kept the 
Purse, that the Commons in the language of every Bill of 
Supply emphatically gave and granted, and the' the King 
willed it to be a law, yet he always returned thanks ; that 



THE STAMP ACT 221 

Calais formerly sent members to Parliament and therefore 
they were taxed, that neither Guernsey nor Jersey had 
ever been represented and consequently they were never 
taxed. The colonies when they migrated carried their 
birthright with them, the same spirit of Liberty still per- 
vaded the whole of the new empire and he enforced his 
arguments in favour of Representation for the colonies by 
supposing a case to exist where their Interest and that of 
the Mother Country might happen to clash, in which event 
he declared he should, as an Englishman, incline against 
them, and he thought every honest man here would do 
the same. 

' Lord Mansfield took the other side. He argued that the 
Doctrine of Representation was ill-founded, that there were 
twelve millions of people in England and Ireland not repre- 
sented. He particularised the East India Company, the 
Turkey Company, Hudson's Bay Co., and the Proprietors 
of all the Public Funds, none of whom sent members to 
Parliament tho' Laws were made every day respecting 
them. That Henry vin. sent a writ to Calais to return a 
Member, but it appeared they were taxed in Parliament 
before. That the Province of Gascoyne, Tournay, etc., 
were constantly taxed in Parliament yet were never repre- 
sented. That the sovereignty of the British Parliament 
extended to all the Dominions belonging to the Crown of 
Great Britain, that is, such as had been conquered by 
English arms, not to Hanover, which did not fall within 
the Predicament. That the Colonies migrated as colonies, 
and settled upon the terms of being Subjects of England. 
The very Idea of a colony implied Subordination and 
Dependence, to render allegiance for Protection. If they 
were not Subject they ought to pay Duties as Aliens. Lord 
Mansfield continued : " That Maryland was made expressly 



222 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

subject to and dependent on the Crown of England, their 
express tenure was of Windsor Castle, and their rights were 
to be co-extensive with any Bishop of Durham in that 
County Palatine, and the Statute-book showed they were 
taxed by Parliament before they were represented. He 
repeatedly called upon the advocates for America to draw 
the line, to move their exceptions, and to say how far the 
sovereignty of the British Parliament should go and where 
stop." 

' The Chancellor, Lord Northington, spoke very shortly 
to the point. As a Lawyer he declared that all the colonies 
had forfeited their charters by sending deputies to New 
York to the Continental Congress. That he had accounts 
in his hand to show this country spent thirty-two millions 
upon America in the last war, besides as much spent in 
Germany. Was Great Britain grown old and impotent to 
be insulted by the Buxom Lass her Colonies ? That if 
she withdrew her Protection they would become a Prey to 
the first Invader, the Petty States of Genoa or little Kingdom 
of Sweden would run away with them.' 

After quoting from Lord Temple's speech Hamersley 
continues : ' If I have troubled you with more of the 
arguments in disfavour than in favour of the Americans 
you will not impute it to any partiality for that side of the 
Question, but to a desire to communicate what could be 
said for it, the other side was too well supported in America 
for anything new to be said here for it. As to what passed 
in the Commons, they have throughout the business shut 
their doors against all strangers, and in wi'iting to your 
Excellency I could not venture to offer anything but what 
I heard with my own ears. 

' P.S. — As our Tributary arrows are almost exhausted 
I am to request a fresh supply when convenient.' 



THE STAMP ACT 223 

Another letter from Hamersley brings tlie happy news of 
the almost certain prospect of the total repeal of the Stamp 
Act. He says : ' The business was opened on the 21st 
February 1766 by a motion from Mr. Burke, private secretary 
to the Marquis of Rockingham. After a debate which 
lasted till two in the morning it was carried in favour of 
a repeal by 275 against 163. He was in hopes that the 
Lords would receive it favourably, and that they would 
be inclined to do for expediency what they have denied as 
a right.' 

On the 22nd March Hamersley congratulates Governor 
Sharpe and all America on the repeal of the Stamp Act, 
the Act repealing it having received the royal assent on 
the 18th March. He sends with it at the same time the 
companion Act, ' for securing the Dependency of the 
colonies, or, as the late Secretary of State would have 
amended it, for securing the Independency of the Colonies.' 

Hamersley continues : ' The great struggle upon the 
Repeal Law was at the second and third readings. The 
Duke of York voted against it, as did Lord Mansfield ; 
Lord Camden for it, and with him the Chancellor, who 
having roared so lustily that America must submit now 
thought proper to change his note. There was such a con- 
course of Peers upon the Debate of those ten days that they 
found it necessary to exclude all strangers. I must there- 
fore refer your Excellency to the Enclosed Protests for 
what passed on one side at least, and take my leave of the 
great business upon which I beheve you have been long 
ready to exclaim " Satis jam satis." 

' The Repeal of the Stamp Act is a most happy event 
rendered more particularly so by the unparalleled example 
of British moderation. The present Turn inclines not only 
to Forget and Forgive, but to challenge a reconciliation 



224 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

and future Harmony. Let not then the colonies baulk so 
good a disposition but meet at least half way. Let them 
not exult and triumph as upon a victory gained over the 
Mother Country ; but as was said in one of the Houses 
of Parliament, " Let the Past, hke the Falling out of Lovers, 
prove only the Renewal of Love." ' 

A copy of the protest of the minority in the Lords at the 
second reading of the Bill was sent at the same time by 
Hamersley to Sharpe, signed by thirty-three noble Lords. 

The Duke of Grafton having seceded from the administra- 
tion, another secretary of state for the southern d^nart- 
ment was appointed in the month of May in the person of 
the Duke of Richmond, General Conway taking the northern 
department. 



CHAPTER XVI 

REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 

The repeal of the Stamp Act was hailed with the greatest 
demonstrations of joy. One mighty wave of enthusiasm 
swept through the land. The news was received in Anna- 
pohs on the 22nd of May 1766. Both Houses of the 
Legislature were then in session, and they adjourned to the 
council chamber, ' where loyal toasts were drunk, the guns 
at the dock at the same time firing.' The king's birthday, 
the 4th of June, was celebrated with firing of guns, the 
inevitable punch drinking, and in the evening a general 
illumination. 

In his letter of 27th June to the secretary of state, the 
governor says : ' Such a sudden alteration in the Face of 
things and in the Behaviour of the People encourages me 
to hope that there is an end to all Uneasiness and Discontent 
and Murmurings, and I am inchned to think His Majesty's 
Subjects within this Province wiU, for the future, be more 
studious than ever to demonstrate to our most gracious 
Sovereign their Loyalty, Duty, and Gratitude, and to the 
Mother Country their Thankfulness and affection.' 

In November 1766 the House of Delegates, ' taking into 
consideration the noble and spirited conduct of the Right 
Honourable William Pitt, now Earl of Chatham, and the 
Rt. Hon. Charles Pratt, now Lord Camden, Lord Chancellor 
of England, in defending and supporting the rights and 
liberties of their fellow-subjects in general,' and as a lasting 
testimony of the gratitude of the freemen of Maryland, 



226 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

unanimously decreed that a marble statue of Chatham should 
be erected in Annapolis, and a portrait of Camden by some 
eminent hand should be placed in the provincial court. A 
Bill was brought in to carry the resolution into effect, but 
was rejected by the Upper House. It was unanimously 
resolved, however, ' that the most grateful thanks and 
sincere acknowledgment be presented by Mr. Garth ^ to the 
Rt. Hon. the Earl of Chesterfield, the Rt. Hon. Lord Shel- 
burne, Secretary Conway, General Howard, Col. Barre, Sir 
George Saville, Alderman Beckford, and any other of the 
Lords and Commons Mr. Garth may think have acted the 
like glorious part of defending through principle the just 
rights of the Colonists, and that they be assured their 
memories will be endeared by their benevolence and regard 
to British America.' 

The assembly, ' impressed with a just sense of His 
Majesty's tender and affectionate regard for these colonies, 
manifested by his ready and cheerful assent to a repeal 
of the oppressive American Stamp Act,' on 6th December 
1766 adopted an address to the king and transmitted it to 
the lord proprietary, with the request to present it to His 
Majesty. 

The address was as follows : 

' To the King's most excellent Majesty : 

' Most Gracious Sovereign : We, your Majesty's most 
dutiful and loyal subjects, the Upper House of Assembly 
of the Province of Maryland, beg leave to present our 
unfeigned thanks for the recent and signal instance of your 
Royal Attention to the welfare of your Majesty's American 
Colonies. 

' When we contemplate and compare their late distressed 

1 Mr. Garth was a member of Parliament and agent for the province. 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 227 

condition and dismal prospect with their present situation, 
we admire the wisdom and justice of your Majesty's councils, 
to which they are indebted for the happy change ; and our 
hearts are filled with gratitude to the best of Sovereigns, 
for an event so highly interesting, not only to your 
American, but also to your British subjects ; the welfare 
of these colonies and that of your European dominions being 
absolutely inseparable. 

' We take the liberty to assure your Majesty that we 
shall, by our conduct on all occasions, endeavour to give 
continual proof of our zeal, loyalty, and respect to your 
Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain ; with the 
greatest fervour we implore of Heaven that the tranquillity 
now restored throughout these Provinces, the affectionate 
regard of Great Britain towards her colonies, and their 
attachment to her, may be perpetual, and that your Majesty 
may long live to enjoy the pleasure it must afford you to 
see all your subjects throughout your extensive dominions 
perfectly happy under your mild, equal, and auspicious 
government. Benjamin Tasker, President.^ 

' Qth December 1766.' 

Lord Baltimore writes to Governor Sharpe, 16th Feb- 
ruary 1767 : 

' I presented myself the address of the Upper House. 
His Majesty received it very graciously ; I had previously 
desired the Secretary of State to observe it, and he pro- 
nounced it an Exceeding good one. The Lower House 
address had been presented a few days before, because it 
arrived first. I likewise dehvered your letter to Lord 
Shelburne. I have a great Happiness in the Harmony 
which subsists between the Upper House and myself. I 
look upon them, not as my dependents, but more hke the 



228 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

House of Peers in this country, as the middle part of the 
Legislature, to prevent the Lower House with their demo- 
cratic spirit from destroying the present happy Establish- 
ment, sanctified by experience and the Pattern of their 
Mother Country, whose Constitution and government is by 
all the world admired. 

' I look upon the Upper House of Assembly in Maryland 
as composed of the Wisest men of the Province, and that 
when they differ from the Lower House they do it in support 
of their own just rights and of mine. This Liberty Lottery 
is a flagrant proof of the rash conduct of the Lower House, 
and ungenerous to me to the greatest degree. The Houses 
ought to have settled these things in a parliamentary way 
'twixt themselves, but shall a Tribune go out and harangue 
the people with a cry of Liberty against the Proprietor, as 
if he were a Bashaw ? This is licentiousness and not 
liberty.' 

The Liberty Lottery mentioned was organised by an 
association calling themselves ' Sons of Liberty.' The sum 
of one thousand pounds was raised for the purpose of 
sending an agent to England to represent to the king the 
grievances of the Lower House of Representatives. 

At this time Lord Baltimore, with a seeming foreboding 
of troublous times in America, had given instructions to 
Governor Sharpe to sell his manors and tracts of land in 
the province of Maryland, which consisted of about three 
hundred thousand acres. He writes to the governor : ' I 
am extremely well satisfied with your conduct in all respects, 
and I entreat you to continue to exert your abilities towards 
the sale of these manors, especially Ann Arundel.' Sharpe 
reports a sale of part of Ann Arundel Manor, 7104 acres 
for the sum of £8919, Is. 9d. 

Secretary Hamersley writes in August 1767 : ' The 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 229 

addresses from Maryland could not have been presented 
more opportunely to place her in a favourable light and 
contrast her with Massachusetts Bay and New York, upon 
whom the Government have set their mark, though the 
latter has akeady cried " Peccavi," and I presume the other 
will do the same.' 

Rockingham's short-lived administration ended in July 
1766, and Pitt came back to office. He formed a govern- 
ment, with the Duke of Grafton as nominal prime minister, 
while the great Commoner himself, now transformed into 
the Earl of Chatham, became Lord Privy Seal. He was no 
longer the popular idol of former days, and with a strange 
apathy he stood aside, while the motley ministry he had 
called together stumbled into that dark road which led to 
dire disaster. 

In May 1767 the reckless Charles Townshend, ' a reputed 
man of genius, the leading wit of the day, the author of the 
famous champagne speech, and light and frothy as the 
beverage by which the speech was inspired,' then chancellor 
of the exchequer, submitted a plan for raising a revenue 
from the colonies by imposing duties on glass, paper, white 
and red lead, painters' colours and tea. The Earl of 
Chatham's potent voice was silent. The fatal Act received 
the royal assent on 29th June 1767. The author of the 
measure did not live to see its fruits, for Charles Townshend 
died in November of the same year, and was succeeded by 
Lord North, who had opposed the repeal of the Stamp Act, 
and was in favour of using the most vigorous measures to 
reduce the colonies to a proper state of humiliation. It was 
he who declared that however prudence or policy might 
hereafter induce the Government to repeal the Act, he 
hoped they would never think of it until America was 
' prostrate at their feet.' 



230 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

During the interregnum between the repeal of the Stamp 
Act and the renewed excitement caused by the Revenue 
Act, Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe was busy administering 
the internal affairs of the province, and trying to ameliorate 
the condition of the convict ships. He writes of the crowded 
state of these ships and of the deadly jail fever brought into 
the province, whereby scores of people were destroyed. In 
a Mr. Blake's family, Queen Anne's County, the governor 
says : ' Thro' a convict imported from Bristol the Lady 
herself and more than twenty negroes died in the space of 
two months. . . . Those contractors who have only a certain 
number of vessels in the Maryland Trade, must, it seems, 
at particular times, empty the jails, and by tliat means 
it sometimes happens that they oblige the masters of their 
ships to receive on board twice the number they ought 
to bring, little anxious themselves of the consequences to 
the Inhabitants here, not very solicitous whether or no the 
crowding too great a number of the poor wretches into a 
small compass may not be the means of destroying some 
of them. When there are more convicts to be sent out 
than their ships bound hither will receive conveniently, 
let them assign the Surplus to some other merchants 
who will be glad to take them off their hands or bring 
them hither for a reasonable freight ; and as only a 
moderate number wiU then be transported hither in any 
one ship, very few will lose their lives on the Passage, 
and people here will not have such reason to dread their 
Arrival.' 

There are a couple of letters that tell a sad tale of one 
of these poor wretches. One is from the secretary of the 
Earl of Shelburne to Sharpe, dated Whitehall, 26th May 
1767: 

' Sir, — I am commanded by the Earl of Shelburne to 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 231 

transmit to you a copy of His Majesty's Pardon for Thomas 
Sawyer, convicted at Gloucester for theft. The Pardon was 
issued too late for the unhappy man, who had sailed from 
Bristol in the ship Albion with other convicts, consigned 
by Messrs. Sedgeley, Wilhouse and Randolph, contractors 
at Bristol for the transportation of convicts, to their agents 
Thomas and William Reynolds in Maryland. I am there- 
fore, in his Lordship's name, to recommend it to you, sir, 
to use your good offices in behalf of Sawyer, that Messrs. 
Reynolds may send him properly back by the first good 
conveyance. Enclosed is the Pardon. 

' " George R. Whereas Thomas Sawyer was at the special 
commission held at Gloucester, indicted for and convicted 
of stealing cheese and a pair of Shoes, and was sentenced 
to be transported for the same ; And whereas Some favour- 
able Circumstances have been humbly represented to us, 
in his Behalf, inducing us to extend our Royal Mercy unto 
him, the said Thomas Sawyer to be inserted in our first and 
next General Pardon that shall come out for the Oxford 
Circuit, and that in the meantime you take Bail for his 
appearance in order to plead our said Pardon ; And for so 
doing this shall be your warrant. 

' " Given at our Court at St. James the 29th day of April 
1767, in the seventh year of our Reign." ' 

The convict was sent back, but the end of the story is 
told in another letter to Sharpe : ' Sawyer died on his 
arrival at Portsmouth. The death of the poor convict 
was unlucky after so much pains taken by his friends to 
retrieve him.' 

The negro slaves, being more valuable, were better 
treated than the convicts or redemptioners. The following 
advertisement from the Marylaind Gazette is a typical one : 
' Friday evening arrived here, Annapolis, in about six weeks 



232 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

from Gambia, the Ship Upton, Captain Birch, with upwards 
of two hundred very hkely healthy slaves which are allowed 
by good judges to be as choice a Parcel of Negroes as has 
ever been imported into this Province. The sale of them 
begins this day.' 

A question now agitating the minds of churchmen was 
that of establishing a bishop in North America. A deputa- 
tion from the north waited on Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe 
to obtain his support. He writes to Hamersley on the 
9th June 1767 : 'I thought it my Duty to refer them 
entirely to His Lordship with whose Charter Rights and 
Prerogatives the Establishing of an Episcopate here may 
perhaps eventually interfere, for tho' by the scheme the 
Bishop is not to interfere in Civil Matters, and is only to 
make a Tour from time to time in order to confirm and 
ordain, it might be questioned whether all his successors 
will be satisfied without some greater share of Power and 
Influence than this alone will give them.' Hamersley 
writes in August : ' I am no friend to the Episcopal Scheme 
and though ordination at the Fireside may suit the In- 
dolence and Poverty of some, perhaps not the most fit 
to exercise the function, yet " Timeo Danaos," nor shall 
I be very well pleased to purchase their Spiritualites at 
the expense of the Loaves and Fishes, which has always 
been the ultimate, if not the only view, adopted by the 
Church from the beginning of time, and I am too good an 
Englishman to wish to see all the colonies united under 
the same Church Government.' 

He writes again in November : ' His Lordship by no 
means wishes to see an Episcopal Palace rise in America, 
or to have St. Peter's chair transferred to Maryland. He 
is determined to support his Charter Rights by whatever 
body of men attacked, especially to resist all church 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 233 

attacks, and much approves of your refusal to convene 
the body of the Clergy for that or any such purpose. 
Should you be blessed with a Bishop wiU he not want your 
Excellency's Perquisites arising from Marriage Licenses ? ' 

The Rev. Jonathan Boucher of Virginia and afterwards 
of St. Anne's Church, Annapohs, whose able pen was 
wielded on the Loyalist side during this period, maintained 
that the Anglican Church in America had the right, by the 
introduction of bishops, to complete its own necessary 
organisation there, and that this involved no menace 
to the rehgious or the civil liberties of the American 
people. 

In connection with the establishment of the American 
Episcopacy the following story is of interest. In those 
stormy days of the eighteenth century, when Episcopacy 
in Scotland, like the cause of the Stuarts, was on the 
wane, Dr. Alexander Rose, Bishop of Edinburgh, was 
evicted from his cathedral of St. Giles, and the ancient 
Church of Scotland came near annihilation. Dr. Rose 
retired with the remnant of his congregation to Carrubber's 
Close, where a refuge was offered him by an old Episcopalian 
in whose house service was held every Sunday. As time 
passed the whole house became the church known after- 
wards as St. Paul's. One Sunday a young American 
student in Edinburgh asked his landlady where he could 
find an Episcopal church. She belonged to the persecuted 
faith, and bade the stranger follow her cautiously. From 
that time he became a worshipper at Carrubber's Close. 
His name was Samuel Seabury. By and by he returned to 
America determined to enter the Church. Years passed, 
and the day came when the EngHsh Parliament refused 
the episcopate to the revolted colonies. Samuel Seabury 
was the candidate refused. He thought then of the old 



234 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

service in Carrubber's Close, and his Church sent him over 
to see if there remained in Scotland a bishop who would 
consecrate him. Thanks to the fortitude of a few strong 
and patient men, the ancient Episcopal Church of Scotland 
had survived its persecution, and Seabury was consecrated 
at Aberdeen the first bishop of the American Church. 

About this time there came to Maryland a protege of Lord 
Baltimore's, one Mr. Bennett Allen. In August 1766, the 
proprietary, in a letter to Governor Sharpe, says : ' I desire 
that you will be pleased to observe what has been men- 
tioned to you in Relation to a Living for a particular friend 
of mine here in England, Mr. Allen of Oxford. I propose 
he shall have one of the best.' It was in November that 
the young gentleman, who afterwards became so notorious, 
appeared on the scene, and brought with him to the governor 
this letter of introduction from Lord Baltimore : 

' The bearer hereof is Mr. Allen, the Oxford gentleman I 
sometime since mentioned to you, and as from the great 
desire he has of visiting America he has resigned a good 
appointment I would not have him a loser by the Exchange. 
As you say there are Livings vacant worth £150 sterling 
each, I should be glad IVIr. AUen might hold two of those, 
till one of the best becomes vacant, to which I desire you 
will present him. I recommend Mr. Allen to your care 
and notice as a person for whom I have a great esteem 
and friendship, and who will by his conduct, I daresay, 
recommend himself to your favour and meet with the 
approbation of the rest of the clergy.' 

Hamersley speaks of Allen as a ' very sensible, valuable 
young gentleman.' When he arrived the governor offered 
him the choice of a couple of parishes on the eastern shore, 
which he declined, preferring a smaller charge in Annapolis. 
Lord Baltimore writes again : ' I hope your Excellency 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 235 

enjoys well your health. I have sent you a Box with a 
gold and steel sword, a plain steel one pierced, two Pitchers 
and two Muggs with covers which on account of the fiys 
in summer will prove useful. I desire you will continue 
to patronise my good friend, Mr. Bennett Allen.' 

Mr. Allen was not satisfied, so the following year Hamers- 
ley writes : ' His Lordship is much concerned to find no 
further advance has been made in settling Mr. Allen to his 
entire satisfaction, and in a manner sufficiently expressive 
of his Lordship's great friendship and regard for him. By 
no means would his Lordship involve you or himself in 
any Disputes about Pluralities, but if Mr. Allen can proceed 
no further in his ecclesiastical walk, he must strike into 
some other Path, and a civil employment must be found 
for him not inconsistent with his Function. His Lordship 
has therefore executed an immediate commission under his 
own Hand and Seal in favour of Mr. Allen, leaving the par- 
ticular employ in blank, to be filled up by your Excellency 
as soon as it arrives according to what shall then offer.' 

That Mr. Bennett Allen had a facile pen is proved by the 
voluminous letters that appear in the archives. One is 
styled, ' A vindication of the Lord Proprietary's Supremacy 
over the Church in Maryland,' etc., and was evidently 
written to justify Mr. Allen's appointment to two or more 
livings. 

The governor was sorely puzzled what to do with Mr. 
Allen, for he wished to fulfil Lord Baltimore's behest, and 
yet he knew the storm that would arise in both the vestry 
and the Lower House concerning his appointment. He 
wrote a diplomatic letter in reply counselling delay. In 
his letter to Hamersley the governor says : ' Mr. Allen is 
fully persuaded he shall by some means or other be able 
to carry his point and that the Assembly will never trouble 



236 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

themselves about the matter, while I for my part am of 
a very different opinion and suspect that this spark alone 
will be sufficient to kindle a new Flame in the Country 
that will not soon be extinguished.' 

Mr. Allen was now getting into very hot water. He had 
had a violent quarrel with Mr. Samuel Chew of the vestry 
of St. James, had been turned out of the latter's house, 
and in consequence a challenge had passed between them. 
The record of the quarrel, as told in the archives, gives a 
very striking picture of the manners of the newly imported 
Maryland parson. Mr. Chew had determined not to support 
his appointment to St. James. After a pause Mr. Allen 
said, ' I know where this sudden change comes from — 
Dulany.' Mr, Chew answered, ' Sir, you 've no right to 
reflect on any gentleman, for I give you my word and 
honour I have had no conversation with Mr. Dulany nor 
know his sentiments on it.' Mr. Allen repeated several 
times, ' I should doubt that.' A Bible lying on a desk near 
Mr. Chew, he laid his hand on it, and said : ' Sir, I can here 
solemnly swear that I have had no conversation with Mr. 
Dulany, nor know anything of his being your Enemy than 
you have told me yourself.' Mr. Allen said : ' Notwith- 
standing that, sir, I should doubt your word. Mr, Chew 
answered : ' What 's that you say, sir ? there 's the door.' 

Mr. Chew then called him a d d scoundrel, took him 

by the collar, dragged him to the door, and put him 
out, telling him to go and learn better manners before he 
came to a gentleman's house again. Mr. Chew's narra- 
tion continues : ' On my attempting to bar the door he put 
his whole weight against it, upon which I aimed a Blow 
with a very good will, I must confess, at his Bald Pate, 
but unluckily the door took it, and thus he escaped a 
broken pate — the best part of his deserts. The next 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 237 

morning a servant brought a letter to Mr. Edmundson, 
Mr, Allen's curate, who was staying with me, enclosing 
one for me. I told him I would not receive a letter from 
such a scoundrel and threw it unopened into the fire, not 
dreaming, as it came from a Minister of the Gospel, that 
it could be a challenge. Notwithstanding Mr. Allen knew 
I had burnt his letter, and therefore could know nothing 
of the appointment, he most heroically marched on the 
appointed day to the field of Battle. After that he went 
to Mr. Thomas's, and before he came away showed his 
pistols. Mr. T. told him he thought it strange he should 
carry them. The Minister replied, " I not only carry 
them but will make use of them." From thence he went 
to the Church, with his Pistols and a cane with a dirk in 
it, and preached a most insolent sermon.' 

A few months afterwards Mr. Bennett Allen was inducted 
into All Saints, Frederick Town, the richest living in the 
colony. How he fared there is told in a letter from him 
to the governor : 

* Frederick Town, Qth June 1768. 

* Sir, — I have a strange Detail of Occurrences to transmit 
to Your Excellency since my arrival here. . . . Things 
went on very quietly and I did not surmise the least opposi- 
tion till Saturday morning when Information was brought 
that Letters had arrived from Annapolis to one Murdoch, 
a vestryman, and that a Plan was laid to steal the Keys 
from the Sexton. There were private letters recommending 
all kinds of violence even to murder, and that it was a 
shame I should have so good a Parish. I saw the storm 
and anticipated it. On Saturday I got the Keys, went 
into the church, read Prayers, the 39 Articles and my 
Induction. On Sunday having heard that the Locks were 
taken%ff and the Door bolted within, I got up at four 



238 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

o'clock, and by the Assistance of a Ladder unbolted them, 
getting in at a Window and left them on the jar. I went 
at ten o'clock and found all the doors and Windows open. 
The vestry came up to me and spoke to me of Breach 
of Privileges. I said, " I am not acquainted with customs. 
I act by the letter of the Law. The moment the governor 
signs an Induction your power ceases." I saw they drew 
to the Doors of the Church. I got a little advantage, 
leapt into the Desk, and made my apology and began the 
service. The Congregation was called out. I proceeded 
as if nothing had happened till the Second Lesson. I 
heard some commotion from without that gave me a little 
Alarm, and I provided luckily against it. They called a 
number of their Bravest, that is to say, their largest men 
to pull me out of the Desk. I let the Captain come within 
two paces of me and clapt my Pistol to his Head. What 
consternation ! They accuse me of swearing I would shoot 
him and I believe I did swear, which was better than 
praying just then. They retired and I proceeded, but the 
Doors and Windows flying open and stones beginning to 
rattle, my aide-de-camp Mr. Dakins advised me to retreat. 
We walked through the midst of them facing about from 
time to time till we got to some distance, when stones began 
to fly. I luckily escaped any hurt. This I have the 
Dulanys to thank for. I write in a hurry. I see they are 
inveterate. I beg your Excellency not to let anything 
transpire. I have ordered my Papers to be got in. I am 
going to Philadelphia. Have employed Mr. Goldie here as 
my curate, he is a favourite. These men forbid my entering 
the Church, and raised the Riot. I look upon my possession 
of the Living as valid and let the Law dispose of the Income. 
— Your Excellency's most obliged and humble servant, 

' B. Allen.' 



REPEAL OF STAMP ACT, 1766-1768 239 

Mr. Allen's subsequent career may be briefly told. He 
returned to England, where he wrote for the Press. Remem- 
bering his old grudge against the Dulanys, when Mr. Lloyd 
Dulany, a Tory refugee, came with his young wife to London 
in 1782, Allen published a scandalous piece in the newspaper 
about his brother Daniel. A duel followed, when Mr. Lloyd 
Dulany was killed, and Mr. Allen was tried for manslaughter 
and sent to Newgate for a term. 

Of another type altogether was the Rev. Jonathan 
Boucher, who became rector of St. Anne's Church, Anna- 
polis. In soliciting Lord Baltimore for a living for him, 
Sharpe says : ' At the request of Mr. Dulany, Mr. Tasker, 
Mr. Addison, and other gentlemen, I promised three years 
ago to recommend him for a small living in this part of the 
province, in order that gentlemen may have an opportunity 
of having their sons educated by him, he having given 
great satisfaction in the capacity of a Teacher of Languages,' 

Jonathan Boucher was born in England in 1738 and 
came to America in 1759 as tutor to the sons of a Virginian 
planter. He was ordained priest by the Bishop of London 
in 1762, and served as rector in Virginia and Maryland 
until 1775, when, on account of his opposition to the Revolu- 
tion, he was outlawed and driven away. He was not only 
sincere and devout in his offices, but a brilliant scholar, an 
ardent politician, pamphleteer, and controversialist. He 
was a slaveholder, though he beheved in the abolition of 
slavery, and treated his slaves with humanity and enlighten- 
ment. In his autobiography he says no compliment paid 
him ever went so near his heart as that bestowed by a 
negro, who, when asked to whom he belonged, rephed, 
' To parson Boucher, thank God.' When, in 1775, he and 
his family had to flee from the country, they left their house 
amidst tears and cries of their slaves. He was a personal 



240 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

friend of Washington, and while in Annapolis was tutor 
to Washington's step-son, young Custis. When the stormy 
days came that preceded the Revolution he fearlessly and 
openly took the Loyalist side. In the last sermon he 
preached in America, he says : ' If I am to credit some 
surmises which have been kindly whispered in my ear, 
unless I will forbear to pray for the King you are to hear 
me pray no longer. Entertaining all respect to my ordina- 
tion vows I am firm in my resolution, whilst I pray at all, 
to conform to the unmutilated liturgy of my Church ; and 
reverencing the injunction of the Apostle I will continue 
to pray for the " King and all in authority under him." 
As long as I live, therefore, yes, while I have my being, will 
I, with Zadok the priest, and with Nathan the prophet, 
proclaim " God save the King." ' 

For six months he tells us he had preached ' with a pair 
of loaded pistols on the cushion ; having given notice that 
if any one attempted what had long been threatened, to 
drag me out of the pulpit, I should think myself justified 
in repelling violence by violence.' 

When he returned to England he was made vicar of 
Epsom. In 1797 he pubhshed in London thirteen sermons 
he had preached in Virginia and Maryland between the 
years 1763 and 1775. The book was entitled, A View of 
the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution. It 
is said that nowhere else probably can be found so com- 
prehensive, so able, and so authentic a presentation of 
the principles and motives of the American Loyahsts, par- 
ticularly from the standpoint of a High Church clergyman 
of great purity and steadiness of character, and of great 
moral courage, than in these sermons. 

Jonathan Boucher died at Epsom in 1804. 

Boucher's letters to Washington were placed in the hands 
of Thackeray by Frederick Locker, grandson to Boucher. 



CHAPTER XVII 

LAST YEARS IN MARYLAND, 1768-1773 

The Revenue Act was to go into effect in November, and 
in the meantime the indignation of America was growing 
stronger, fanned by the letters, pamphlets, satirical verses, 
sermons, etc., that were poured forth weekly through the 
length and breadth of the land. Governor ^harpe writes 
to his brother in February 1768: 'You will see by the 
enclosed papers called the " Pennsylvania Farmer's Letters," 
which are republished in all the colonies, how solicitous 
some people are to rouse once more the resentment of the 
Americans against the Mother Country on account of the 
Act of Parliament imposing a duty on glass, etc' 

John Dickinson, the author of these letters, was a young 
barrister of Philadelphia, He was born in Maryland in 
1732, and was most highly educated. He has been called 
the ' penman of the Revolution,' and was a most prolific 
writer. The celebrated ' Letters from a Farmer in Penn- 
sylvania ' were twelve in number, the last appearing in 
February 1768. Strange to say, the author, who did so 
much to rouse public feeling on the subject of colonial 
rights, was later in disrepute himself, because he was not 
in favour of the independence of the United States. ' Let 
us behave,' he says in one of his letters, ' like dutiful children 
who have received unmerited blows from a beloved parent. 
Let us complain to our parent ; but let our complaints 
speak at the same time the language of affection and venera- 
tion.' He protests against any thought of independence 

Q 



242 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

as of a ' fatal calamity.' This was the tone of most of the 
pohtical writers of that time. They counselled loyalty to 
the monarch while resisting the action of the ministry. 

On account of the colonies entering into a non-impor- 
tation agreement, the Revenue Act became exceedingly 
unpopular in England. At the close of the session of 1769 
Lord Hillsborough, secretary of state, declared that the 
king would not lay any further taxes on America for the 
purpose of raising a revenue, but at the next session would 
take off the duties upon glass, paper, and colours, ' upon 
consideration of such duties having been laid contrary to 
the true principles of commerce.' Unfortunately the tax 
was left upon tea merely to ' mark a principle,' and the 
action of the Government, instead of allaying the popular 
agitation in America, only increased it. ' No man ever 
doubted,' exclaimed Burke ^ in the House of Commons, 
' that the commodity of tea could bear an imposition of 
threepence. But no commodity will bear threepence, or 
will bear a penny, when the general feelings of men are 
irritated, and two millions of people are resolved not to pay.' 

Meanwhile, in Maryland Horatio Sharpe was doing what 
he could to appease the discontented and to reconcile the 
conflicting Houses of Assembly. The good governor, how- 
ever, was not destined to keep the reins of power much 
longer. His dismissal from office was on the road, as 
follows : 

' Sir, — The Purport of this letter is to acquaint you 
that I have appointed my brother-in-law, Robert Eden, to 
succeed you as Lieut.-Governor of Maryland. I return 

^ ' Edmmid Burke, the Irish adventurer, as members of aristocratic 
connections called him, without a landed estate or any capital but genius 
and learning, who had done Rockingham the honour to select him as his 
political patron.' — Goldwin Smith, The United Kingdom. 



LAST YEARS IN MARYLAND, 1768-1773 243 

your Excellency my utmost thanks for your extreme 
good Conduct during your administration, which nothing 
but Fraternal Affection could have made me wish to have 
altered. — I am, with the greatest Esteem and Consideration, 
Your Excellency's Sincere Friend and most Obedt. Servant, 

' F. Baltimore.' 

Lord Baltimore's sister had married Mr. Eden, a lieutenant 
in the Coldstream Guards, a younger brother of Sir John 
Eden, Bart., and the position in Maryland was wanted for 
him. 

Unfortunately this letter and one from Mr. Hamersley 
were delayed on the voyage, and the faithful governor 
had the mortification of hearing from others the news of 
his deposition from office. He had been lieutenant- 
governor for more than fifteen years, a wonderful record 
considering the many changes that had taken place in the 
neighbouring provinces. Of those who had served in his 
council many had passed away, among whom this year 
was the Hon. Benjamin Tasker, who had welcomed him 
on his arrival in Maryland. The governor writes : ' It is 
not without very great concern that I advise you of the 
Loss we have suffered in the death of Mr. Tasker who died 
last Sunday after an Indisposition of about a fortnight. 
He was, I think, more than seventy-eight years old, but 
until this sickness seized him as hearty, cheerful, and in 
appearance likely to live many years. He had been a 
member of the Council ever since 1722, and president of 
that Board for twenty years.' His only son predeceased him. 

Even in October the July letters from Secretary Hamersley 
and Lord Baltimore had not reached the governor, who was 
evidently perplexed at the silence. Sharpe writes to the 
former rather coolly : ' I see by the late Northern Papers, 



244 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

copied from some London papers of August, that Lord 
Baltimore went abroad soon after he had appointed Captain 
Eden to succeed me as Lieutenant-Governor.' 

On the 30th of October the missing letters appeared, 
having been just three months on their way. The good- 
natured governor writes in reply : 

' It affords me great satisfaction to be assured by My 
Lord himself as well as by you that my Conduct in general 
diu-ing the time I have had the honour to bear his Com- 
mission hath met with his Approbation and that his Ldp. 
still entertains a favourable opinion of me. The reason his 
Ldp. condescends to give for appointing me a Successor is 
very sufficient and satisfactory, the Expectations Captain 
Eden had entertained from the time he had made such an 
alliance were natural and extremely reasonable, and I 
sincerely wish he may from their being now fulfilled derive 
much benefit and happiness. That my Administration 
here was drawing to a Conclusion I had great room to 
expect from many hints Mr. Jordan thought fit to drop 
while he was in the Province, nor was I at all concerned 
thereat, for really, to speak my mind freely, I had within 
these two years met with some rubs and had some difficulties 
to encounter that made me uneasy and which it is altogether 
needless to recount to any one not an entire stranger to 
late Transactions in the Province. Happy in a Conscious- 
ness that I have, during the course of my Administration, 
discharged my duty to the utmost of my abilities towards 
his Ldp. and towards the people over whom I have had 
the honour to preside, I flatter myself I shall not when 
I become a Private Person be the less respected or esteemed, 
and that I shall be as happy in Cultivating mj'- Garden 
after resigning to Captain Eden the Reins of Government 
as I have ever been since I came to America. Whenever 



LAST YEARS IN MARYLAND, 1768-1773 245 

he arrives I shall receive him with Cordiality as an Officer, 
a man of honour, and the brother of one to whom I am 
under great obhgations.' 

Governor Eden did not arrive until June 1769, when 
Horatio Sharpe finally gave up office. 

On the arrival of the new governor, Colonel Sharpe left 
Government House, and took up his residence at his beloved 
Whitehall. Here in the exercise of a generous hospitality 
and the management of his estate he was supremely happy. 
His portrait that still hangs over the mantelpiece in the 
dining-room of Whitehall (probably painted by Hesselius, 
the pupil of Godfrey Kneller), represents him as a man of 
middle age, tall and stately, with strong, clear features and 
steadfast eyes. He is dressed in a dark red uniform of the 
fashion of the eighteenth century. The laced waistcoat 
comes nearly to the knee, and the coat is elaborately made, 
with flap pockets and great cuffs, from underneath which 
fall lace ruffles. 

Many were the parties given at Whitehall by the genial 
host, and its polished floors were often trodden by the feet 
of the merry young people who assembled there and danced 
to the music of the old spinet. There is a story told that 
John Ridout's handsome sister Mary crossed the ocean to 
pay a visit to her brother, and that George Washington 
was her partner at a dance, while Benjamin Franklin played 
the tune on musical glasses. Whether this notable event 
took place at Whitehall or Duke of Gloucester Street 
history does not say, but this is the legend that is attached 
to a portrait that hangs in a country-house near Bristol. 
Young people were especially fond of this good ex-governor, 
and many happy boatloads sailed from Annapolis by the 
Severn round Greenbury Point to visit his delightful country 
home. 



246 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

Hamersley still wrote to Colonel Sharpe. In a letter 
of the 13th July 1771 he says : 

' I have heard from His Lordship from Linden on Borden- 
see within these few days ; he writes in good spirits, speaks 
favourably of His Health, and Contradicts all the Reports 
spread of him from Florence, Vienna, etc., of Duels, 
Murthers and Hairbreadth Escapes. He has sold his 
Home in Southampton Row and makes no mention of 
returning to England. I hope you continue to enjoy your 
Health, and am, etc' 

Frederick, Lord Baltimore, died at Naples on the 14th 
of September 1771, leaving no legitimate children. The 
title therefore became extinct. He had married in 1753 
Lady Diana Egerton, daughter of the Duke of Bridgewater, 
who died shortly afterwards, the result of a carriage 
accident while out driving with her husband. Louisa 
[frowning, eldest sister of Frederick, under the will of her 
father, the fifth Lord Baltimore, became entitled to the 
proprietaryship of Maryland. Her claim was disputed by 
Henry Hertford, the illegitimate son of Frederick, sixth 
Lord Baltimore, to whom the province had been left by 
will, the executors being Hugh Hamersley, Robert Eden, 
Robert Morris of Lincoln's Inn, and Peter Provost. During 
the time the suit in chancery was going on as to the 
succession, news arrived in England that the United 
States of America had declared themselves independent of 
Great Britain, so the question was settled for ever. 

Robert Eden, we read, had not the fine manners and 
popular ways of Horatio Sharpe. Still he sought to ingrati- 
ate himself with the people by attempting to redress every 
grievance except the great grievance of all, which, before 
he had been in the province many weeks, he knew could 
not be redressed except in one way. But the contest had 



LAST YEARS IN MARYLAND, 1768-1773 247 

not yet actually begun, and was not advanced enough for 
men to prognosticate when it would come. Meanwhile, 
until it did come, the two sides, like swordsmen who knew 
that they must soon battle in mortal combat, maintained 
relations of the most distinguished courtesy with one 
another. There never was more gaiety in Annapolis and 
throughout the State than at the time of, and just after 
Eden's arrival. The social whirl resembled, of course on 
a reduced scale, the giddy excitement of Paris just before 
the outbreak of the great Revolution, and the cause was 
probably the same : men took their delight to-day because 
they knew not ' what to-morrow might bring forth.' 

A few leaves from George Washington's Diary will per- 
haps give a better picture than can be found elsewhere of 
social hfe in AnnapoUs from 1771 to 1773 : 

' September 1771. — On a visit to Annapohs. September 
24th. — Dined with the Governor and went to the Play and 
the Ball afterwards. September 25th. — Dined at Doctor 
Stewart's and went to the Play and Ball afterwards. 
September 26th. — Dined at Mr. Ridout's and went to the 
Play. September 27th. — Dined at Mr. Carroll's and went 
to the Ball. September 28th. — Dined at Mr. Boucher's 
and went from there to the Play and afterwards to the 
Coffee House. 

' October 4th, 1772. — Set off for the Annapohs Races. 
Dined and Lodged at Mr. Boucher's. October 5th. — 
Reached Annapohs. Dined at the Coffee House with the 
Kosky Club and lodged at the Governor's after going to 
the Play. October 6th. — Dined at Major Jenifers — went 
to the Ball, and Supped at the Governor's. October 7th. — 
Dined at the Governor's and went to the Play afterwards. 
October 8th. — Dined at Mr. Lloyd's and went to the Play — 
from thence early to my Lodgings. October 9th. — Dined 



248 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

at IMr. Ridout's, went to the Play and to the Governor's 
to supper. October 10th, — Dined with IVIr. Carroll of 
Carrollton, and set out for Mr. Boucher's, at which place 
I arrived about eight o'clock. October 11th. — Got home to 
a late dinner — John Parke Custis came with me. 

' September 26th, 1773. — I set off for the Annapolis 
Races. Dined at IMr. Rolhn's and got into Annapolis 
between five and six o'clock. Spent the evening and 
lodged at the Governor's. September 27th. — Dined at the 
Governor's and went to the Play in the Evening. September 
2Sth. — Again dined at the Governor's and went to the Play 
and the Ball in the Evening. September 29th. — Dined 
at Mr. Sprigg's and went to the Play in the Evening. 
September 30th. — Dined at ]\Ir. Ridout's and spent the 
afternoon. Supped at IMr. Jenifer's and spent the Even- 
ing. October 1st. — Still at Annapolis. Dined with Mr. 
Ogle. Spent the Evening at the Governor's. October 
2nd. — Set off on my return home. Dined at Marlborough 
and Lodged at home. Mr. Custis came with me.' 

William Eddis, an Englishman who had come out to 
Maryland as survej'or of customs, has left in his letters 
a most vivid picture of the times. His estimate of the 
ex-governor's character is worthy of notice. He writes : 
' Colonel Sharpe has resided many j^ears in this country ; 
where he has established a reputation which reflects the 
highest honour on his pubhc capacity and on his private 
virtues. This gentleman does not seem to entertain any 
idea of returning to his native land, but appears inclined 
to spend the residue of his days within the limits of 
a province which he has so long governed with honour 
to himself, satisfaction to the people, and fidelity to his 
sovereign. Had Governor Eden been appointed to succeed 
a person who had consulted his private advantage in 




W a 



LAST YEARS IN MARYLAND, 1768-1773 249 

preference to that of the pubhc, who had been found 
unequal to the discharge of his important trust or remiss 
in the execution, it would have required no extraordinary 
exertion of abilities to have appeared in a favourable 
point of view. But his immediate predecessor, by the 
invariable rectitude of his conduct, the affabiUty of his 
manners, and his unremitting attention to the happiness 
and prosperity of Maryland had established a well-merited 
popularity which during an administration of sixteen years 
continued in full force and has secured him the unabated 
love and attachment of a grateful people.' 

Eddis's lively pen sketches Annapolis as it appeared to 
him in 1770. He says : ' I am persuaded there is not a 
town in England of the same size which can boast a greater 
number of fashionable and handsome women, and were I 
not satisfied to the contrary I should suppose that the 
majority of our belles possessed every advantage of a long 
and familiar intercourse with the manners and habits of 
your great metropolis. The quick importation of fashion 
is adopted earher by the pohshed and affluent Americans 
than by many opulent persons in London. Nor are oppor- 
tunities wasted to display superior elegance. There are 
many lovely women who have never passed the boundaries 
of their respective provinces, and yet I am persuaded 
might appear to great advantage in the most brilliant 
circles of gaiety and fashion.' 

Another writer, the Abbe Robin, says : ' There appears 
to be more wealth and luxury in Annapolis than in any 
other city which I have visited in this country. The 
extravagance of the women here surpasses that of our own 
provinces : a French hairdresser is a man of great import- 
ance : one lady here pays her coiffeur a salary of a thousand 
crowns.' 



250 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

To return to Horatio Sharpe. The idyllic life at White- 
hall did not long continue. In 1773 he was summoned to 
England by family affairs, one of his brothers having 
lately died. Politics had nothing to do with his departure, 
for, though clouds were gathering, there was nothing 
then that pointed to the disruption that was so soon to 
follow. 

He set sail on 10th July 1773, in the ship Richmond, 
Captain Love. He was accompanied by Mrs. Ridout's 
mother, Mrs. Ogle, and her grandson Samuel, John Ridout's 
eldest son, who was then a lad of eight and had been 
entered at Harrow. There also went in the same vessel 
John Bordley, aged nine, the son of John Beale Bordley, 
bound for the same school.^ The farewells were said, none 
dreaming that it was a last farewell to some, and that eleven 
years would pass before the family would be reunited. 
Much was to happen in the interval. 

It was not until November 1773 that tidings were received 
by the anxious parents of the safe arrival of the ship in 
England. It had met with a succession of gales, and was 
nearly wrecked off Cape Henry. The voyage ended happily, 
however. The boys were placed at Harrow. Mrs. Ogle, 
who had a daughter married and settled in London 
(Mrs. Anderson), went to her house, and Colonel Sharpe, 
after a short stay at Tower HiU and Chelsea, took 
lodgings for the winter in Bond Street. Subsequently 
his mother bought a house in Saville Row, where he 
resided for some time. He had left the entire manage- 

* In Judge Bordley's pocket register of 1773 is the following 
memorandum: 'July 10th, Saturday. Son John sailed for England in 
the Richmond, Captain Love, from the mouth of South River, wind west 
and continued fair all Sunday and part of Monday so that I expect she 
put out of the Capes, Sunday night. Colonel Sharpe, Mrs. Ogle and 
Sammy Ridout, fellow-passengers.' 




CAMEO PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR SHARPE 



{To face f>. 250 



LAST YEARS IN MARYLAND, 1768-1773 251 

ment of his estate in America in the hands of his friend 
John Ridout. 

The letters interchanged give a vivid picture of affairs 
in England and Maryland, and permit us to follow the 
progress of the quarrel between the parent state and its 
wilful child. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

LA DEBACLE 

On the 28th of November 1773 a vessel containing a large 
quantity of tea arrived in the harbour of Boston, followed 
by two others. The story has been often told how Boston 
cast the cargo overboard, how England retaliated by closing 
the port, and how the sister colonies rallied round Massa- 
chusetts. The Boston Port Bill received the assent of the 
king on the 31st of March 1774. This was followed by 
another Bill ' for the better regulation of the Government 
of Massachusetts Bay,' which practically deprived Massa- 
chusetts of its charter. Another Act was passed which 
ordained that any person indicted for capital offences 
committed in aiding the magistrates in the execution of 
the laws, might be sent by the governor to any other colony 
or to England for trial. Another authorised the quartering 
of soldiers in the houses of the citizens. Then came the 
Quebec Bill, which granted to Roman Catholics greater 
privileges, established a legislative council with arbitrary 
power, and extended the Hmits of the province of Canada 
so as to comprehend the territory between the lakes, the 
Ohio, and the Mississippi. 

General Gage was now appointed governor of Massa- 
chusetts. ' All America is in a flame,' writes Eddis. ' The 
colonists are ripe for any measures that will tend to the 
preservation of what they call their natural liberty.' In 
Annapolis a meeting was held condemning the action of 
Parliament in blocking the harbour of Boston, and resolu- 

262 




diiSLr^'i£^ 



LA DEBACLE 253 

tions were passed to put a stop to all exports to and imports 
from Great Britain until the Act should be repealed. 
Almost simultaneously Maryland and Virginia proposed a 
congress of the colonies. 

This was held in Philadelphia on the 5th of September 
1774, Maryland's three delegates were Robert Golds- 
borough, William Pace, and Samuel Chase. Eddis says : 
' The Canada Bill is as unpopular as the Boston Port Bill, 
and adds greatly to the universal discontent. It is high 
time some methods were adopted to conciliate their grow- 
ing differences. The colonies are daily gaining incredible 
strength. They know, they feel their importance, and 
persuasion, not force, must retain them in obedience.' In 
November the congress had finished its labours. The 
members had drawn up a petition to His Majesty ; and 
addresses to Great Britain, to Canada, and the confederating 
American colonies. The petition was said to be a masterly 
performance, firm, explicit, and respectful, and the different 
addresses pathetic, persuasive, and moderate. 

In October 1774 came the burning of the ship Peggy 
Stewart in Annapolis, with all its attendant commotion. 
Anthony Stewart's brig, loaded with tea from London was 
entered at the port, the owner paying the duty (imposed 
by Act of the British Parliament) against the will of the 
people of Annapohs. A stormy meeting of the inhabitants 
was the result, when the unfortunate owner was seized 
and compelled to sign a paper declaring himself sorry 
for the offence he had given, and offering to destroy the tea 
and the vessel as an atonement. 

One of the owners of the tea, Thomas Charles Williams, 
had arrived in Ncav York that very day by the ship Samson, 
a fellow-passenger with Thomas Ridout, a young brother 
of the Hon. John Ridout, to whose care and good offices 



254 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

he had been consigned by his parents in England. Letters 
of introduction to Robert Morris and Thomas WilUng had 
been sent by the brother to meet this youtli in New York, 
but these miscarried, and young Ridout's apparent con- 
nection with WiUiams nearly proved his undoing. 

He tells of his adventure in an old memoir which still 
survives, and whose recital throws a curious sidelight on 
the tea story : 

' I took leave of my parents for the last time and embarked 
in the Downs the 4th Sept. 1774 for New York, where I 
arrived after seven weeks' passage. In the vessel went 
also a passenger, the merchant who had shipped a few 
weeks before some tea to Annapolis in Maryland against 
the express rules of the convention then sitting at Annapolis. 
His anxiety on his arrival was I perceived very great, but 
two days passing awa}^ and hearing no news of his tea he 
flattered himself that all things were well. The arrival of 
the post, however, undeceived him. He learned that his 
tea and vessel had been burnt by an enraged populace, 
and that in consequence of it his life was in danger. In an 
hour's time New York was in quest of him. He escaped, 
but I was in danger of feeling the effects of his indiscretion, 
to say no worse of it ; for having since his arrival been 
always in his company and lodging together I was by 
many looked on as an accomplice, and as such was forbidden 
entrance to the house where I lodged. A gentleman, Hugh 
Wallace, who was a member of the King's Council and an 
acquaintance of my brother, hearing of my arrival, protected 
me, and by his attentions I was secured from insult.' ^ 

^ In the face of Thomas Ridout's recital, it- is curious to road an item 
from the Boston Gazette of 17th November 1774: 

' Letters from New York, 27th October. 

'Thos. Charles Williams who arrived at New York per ship Samson 
from London is extremely uneasy at a report being spread that he shipped 



LA DEBACLE 255 

On the 1st of December the general non-importation 
resolutions came into force, and thousands of manufacturers 
in England were threatened with ruin. America was in- 
deed ' a land of trouble,' as the new governor of Maryland 
found. 

From across the sea Sharpe watched the conflict that 
was going on with the keenest interest, his hopes not yet 
extinguished, while John Ridout stood shoulder to shoulder 
with him in Annapolis, striving for reconciliation, and using 
every effort to keep the province loyal to the Crown. That 
his efforts and those of the other Loyalists in the Council were 
very powerful is evidenced by the fact that Samuel Chase 
and his party had the greatest difficulty in obtaining the 
vote of the assembly for independence. Chase harangued 
the country for weeks, but did not carry the vote until 
Friday, 1st July 1776. He left immediately on horseback 
for Philadelphia, arriving there on Monday morning, 4th 
July, just in time to place Maryland with the other revolt- 
ing colonies. 

But this is anticipating events. 

In March 1775 Eddis writes : ' From one extremity of this 
continent to the other every appearance indicates approach- 
ing hostihties. Very considerable subscriptions have been 
made in every quarter for the relief of the Bostonians, 
large sums have been likewise collected for the purchase 
of arms and ammunition.' Yet few beheved that England 

the tea lately destroyed at Annapolis, Ind. He assures the public the 
said report is groundless, and entreats they will suspend their opinion upon 
that matter a few days when he hopes to give them the fullest proofs of 
his innocence.' 

That he did ship the tea is further proved in the Anthony Stewart 
papers in the British Government archives, wherein is to be found 
' Williams Memorial to the British Treasury in 1777.' 

See letter to the Baltimore News, 13th April 1905, by Richard D. 
Fisher, Baltimore. 



256 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

would resort to arms. Eddis continues : ' She will be 
more just, more tender to her offspring, the voice of reason 
will prevail. Our grievances will be redressed and she will 
be found to the end of time a kind — a fostering parent. 
But admitting that Great Britain was determined to enforce 
a submission to all her mandates, even in that case we have 
little cause to apprehend that she will unsheath the sword 
and estabhsh her decrees in the blood of thousands.' 

In April came the news of Lexington, where the ' em- 
battled farmers ' with their rifles gained the advantage 
over the king's troops who had been sent by Gage to 
seize arms and ammunition. In the meantime, in England 
both Houses of Parhament had addressed the king, request- 
ing him to enforce the Acts and to increase the army in 
America. The news of this probably hastened hostihties, 
as it was advisable to reduce General Gage before he could 
be reinforced. There was still a peace party who wished 
for reconciliation, and thought that the colonies ought 
to contribute more liberally towards the maintenance of 
the army in return for the protection afforded by Great 
Britain. 

From Virginia came news that in April the powder and 
stores of ammunition had been removed by order of his 
Excellency Lord Dunmore from the magazine at WiUiams- 
burg by some marines belonging to one of His Majesty's 
vessels at that station. In order to prevent the same 
thing happening in Annapohs, some of those known as the 
patriotic party waited on the governor, asking him to deliver 
into their keeping the arms, powder, and stores belong- 
ing to the province. With the consent of his council, and 
to avoid a riot, the governor agreed to comply with the 
requisition. A circular letter was now sent by Lord Dart- 
mouth to the governors of the different colonies, containing 



LA DieBACLE 257 

a resolution of the House of Commons relative to a con- 
ciliatory plan. But the affair at Lexington had hardened 
men's hearts, and strengthened the ' patriotic party,' 

In July 1775 things had gone from bad to worse. Bunker's 
Hill had followed Lexington, and the regulars, though they 
drove the provincials from their entrenchments, had 
suffered severely. Eddis writes of Maryland : ' In every 
district of this Province the majority of the people are 
actually under arms ; almost every hat is decorated with a 
cockade ; and the churhsh drum and fife are the only 
music of the time. Numbers are now preparing to bid 
farewell to a country where they cannot possibly remain 
with any degree of safety, unless they take an active part 
in the opposition to the measures of Government.' 

Horatio Sharpe writes from London to John Ridout on 
the nth of October 1774: 

' The situation of affairs in America was undoubtedly 
the strongest if not the sole motive that has influenced 
the ministry to advise so sudden a dissolution of the 
present parliament which happened the 30th day of 
September. The writs are returnable by the 29th of 
November following, at which time Parliament is to meet 
for the Despatch of Business, a period devoutly to be 
wished for. If the Plan delivered by the select committee 
of Pennsylvania unto their Assembly be adopted, at the 
General Congress, I have the most sanguine expectations 
that a firm and lasting agreement might at this critical 
conjuncture be brought about to the satisfaction of both 
Great Britain and the Colonics. 

' With pain and anxiety shall I await the Resolutions of 
the General Congress, for my regard and affection for all 
America is too sincere to be void of fear, and God grant 
that these ultimate resolves be not only reasonable, but 

R 



258 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

conducted with that coohiess ever essential to undertakings 
of so great moment. The Repeal of the Boston Port Bill 
will, on satisfaction being made to the India House, meet 
with very little opposition. But as to the Act for altering 
the Massachusetts Charter, I am afraid it is not to be got 
over. The Act directing tryals here for ofifences com- 
mitted in America being such a one as never could be 
well carried into execution, it could only be passed in 
terrorem, therefore, I have some hopes it may not be 
insisted on too strenuously, and the granting an annual 
aid for the support of the British Empire will in my opinion 
remove all pretences whatever for laying for the future 
any additional taxes for the sole purpose of raising a 
revenue in America, Should this favourable oppor- 
tunity be slipt God knows the evils that may attend 
America. 

' It is true the people here cannot but be great sufferers 
by so unhappy a dissension, but what will that be when 
compared to the distresses that must unavoidably attend 
the people of America, Maryland and Virginia in particular, 
should the non-importation of tobacco take place. Are we 
to give up a staple to cultivate what ? Wheat ? Will 
that, when so generally gone into, afford an equivalent to 
the cost for maintaining and clothing themselves and 
negroes ? I am afraid not, nor do I know what will. It 
may be said that he that is industrious will produce some- 
what to pay for his subsistence and clothing, but will that 
be the case of the poor and needy in Maryland ? I am 
rather inclined to believe they will endeavour to force a 
subsistence from those they think may have it to spare. 
Love of gain is so implanted in our nature that the people 
cannot be long kept from it, but will give up or risk every- 
thing for the attainment of it, and say with the Dutchman 



LA DEBACLE 259 

that to prosecute his gain he would sail thro' Hell at the 
risk of singeing his sails. 

' This, I think, sufficiently shows the absurdity of a 
non-importation and a non-exportation act, and com- 
pels me most sincerely to wish that affairs may be so 
conducted as to meet with a speedy and happy issue to 
us all, 

' There is little or nothing at present to be done here ; 
all is bustle and confusion, and there it will remain until 
the middle of next month, at which time the elections will 
be pretty well over. Mr. Wilkes is Lord Mayor and stands 
fair to be elected a member of Parliament for the county 
of Middlesex. It is said that several of the old ministerial 
members will be forced to give up their seats to those of 
another complexion. This may perhaps be the case with 
respect to a few counties, but it is not so with the cities 
and Boroughs except London, Westminster, and the Borough 
of South wark, for which last place Mi. Wm. Lee, late 
Sheriff, formerly of Virginia, who married Miss Ludwell, 
stands a Poll, but he will not I imagine carry his election. 
If General Lee, alias Mad Lee, is not possessed of an easy 
fortune, he may perhaps repent his trip to America, for his 
Knight errantry thro' that part of the world is no secret 
at St. James. 

' I shall rejoice to hear you have received benefit from 
the warm springs and that your pleasures were uninter- 
rupted by the savages. [Mr. Ridout had bought a large 
tract of land on the Potomac, near the Berkeley Springs, 
and had a log cabin at Tonolloway.] You will be pleased 
to present my hearty compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Golds- 
borough and family, all the Carrols, and other friends of 
whatever sex or age, particularly Beale Bordley, and 
sincerely wishing Mrs. Ridout and little ones health and 



260 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

prosperity, your much obliged friend and humble servant. 

Sam is very well at Harrow, but I have not been able as 

yet to pay him a visit. Mrs. Ogle and your humble servant 

wait with impatience to take Mrs. Ridout and family by 

the hand and pray ship yourselves off as early in the Spring 

as you can. If you bring a few hambs as a present to 

Mr. Hamersley they will be kindly received. Don't forget 

the Red Bird I wrote you about. My compliments to 

Dr. Scott.' 

He writes again : 

' London, ith December 1774. 

' This letter you will find very short for want of time, 
having just received notice that Mr. Russell sends his letters 
away to-morrow morning. Your favour of the 20th 
September did not come to hand till yesterday, nor is 
Captain Herrick yet in the river, his ship having, by a 
violent gale of wind, with many others been driven out of 
the Downs, but they are now returned there again, and 
we are waiting for a wind to bring them up the river. I 
have had a return of my cold this Fall and am not yet 
recovered, which has prevented my paying a visit to 
Harrow according to promise, but I will as soon as I con- 
veniently can in order to converse with the master and 
find out his real sentiments relative to Sam's capacity or 
readiness at his book. As I am not in immediate want of 
cash nor shall not for some months to come, I shall expect 
no remittances except what you shall bring yourself, and 
the sooner I see you and Mrs. Ridout (to whom my best 
comphments) and the little ones the better, for if I return 
to Maryland as Governor, of which you are not to say a 
word, I am afraid they will allow me but a short time as 
things are now circumstanced, so that the latter end of 
next Fall or early in the Spring of '76 will be the utmost 



LA DEBACLE 261 

limit, and this solely depends on Governor Eden quitting 
the Government, which he had not resolved on when he 
left London. Though his brother the Secretary has since 
assured me that he will not tarry in Maryland, but of this 
be also silent. At present I am well satisfied they have 
no thought of displacing you.' 

During Governor Sharpe's regime in 1760, Mr. Ridout 
had been appointed collector of customs at the port of 
Annapolis, and Dr. Upton Scott sheriff, appointments made, 
as Colonel Sharpe said in one of his letters, ' not only on 
account of esteemed friendship, but for their personal merits 
to worthily fill these offices better than any other I could 
appoint ' (11th October 1774). 

Another letter from London of the 18th December the 
same year speaks of receiving a cargo of tobacco from Mr. 
Ridout by Captain Love. He continues : ' I had previous 
to your letters received intelligence of the death of Mr. 
Wolstenholme, and immediately took every step I could 
think of to procure his office for you, and desired Mrs. 
Ogle to write to Lord Essex and Mr. Bladen, which she 
has done.^ Whether we shall succeed or not is uncertain, 
as application had been made to Lord North the very day 
before I received the information. God bless you and 
yours.' 

Governor Eden had paid a visit to England daring the 
summer, but was ordered back by Lord Dartmouth in 
August 1774. Another letter from Sharpe of the 20th of 
May 1775 speaks of one from John Ridout of the 25th of 
February only reaching him that day. What wonder that 

* Lady Essex was first cousin to Mrs. Ogle, who was a frequent visitor 
at Cassiobury Park, where Samuel Ridout spent many of his holidays with 
his school friend young St. John, son of Lord Bolingbroke. A sister of 
Lady Essex was married to a brother of Lord Bolingbroke. 



262 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

there were misunderstandings between the two countries, 
when communication was so slow ! Things were growing 
darker, and Sharpe says : ' I cannot but lament the near 
approach of that unhappy period that will deprive us of 
every other mode of conveyance, with the additional 
postage from Boston (where the Packet is now ordered) to 
New York. Farewell to our political correspondence. No 
more pamphlets, no more newspapers. What a change ! 
God alone forsees the end of it. However, as every good 
man ought, I will fervently pray for a speedy and happy 
union between the Colonies and the mother country. By 
this opportunity you will receive an account of all money 
transactions between you and me except the tobacco, 
which is not yet all sold, but will be shortly. 

' I have cautioned Mr. Mollisson against drawing the cord 
too tight, and by what he tells me it will produce three- 
pence or threepence halfpenny a pound, of which you 
shall have as early an account as possible. You will also 
receive the Public Ledger to this day, and should any other 
ship sail for Maryland a fortnight hence you will then have 
the Parliamentary Register which comes out monthly. 
Your observations on the governor quitting the Province 
with a professed declaration not to return unless a repeal 
of all the offensive acts should take place, are certainly 
most just. If he gives up the Governorship before harmony 
is restored there are but few men that would accept it, of 
which number I shall not make one.' 

Sharpe writes on the 20th of May 1775, referring to the 
possible resignation of Governor Eden : 

' Mr. Browning is the man to whom the government of 
the Province will be offered, and I am apt to think his 
circumstances are such as will induce him to accept of it, 
particularly if nothing turns up to encourage him in a 




MRS. GEORGR SAMUEL OGLE AND CHILD 

(Nee Anne Tasker) 



['I'o/aci- />. 262 



LA DEBACLE 263 

more steady pursuit of his claim to the Province. His 
claim my brother thinks very favourably of. 

' The Governor certainly judges right in leaving the 
Province with regard to his Brother's interest, but how it 
will be approved of by the Ministry I know not. 

' His brother the Deputy Secretary has great interest, 
and it may be passed over. 

' We are going into mourning for the Queen of Denmark, 
who died at Zell a few days past. I have much more to 
say, but have not time. My compliments to Dr. Scott 
and let him know that he will soon be in Fortune's Cup. 
I will send the numbers of the tickets by the first opportunity 
after my purchase. 

' Mrs. Ogle and Sam are well, but I have had a fever 
and ague. It is over, and I am in high spirits. — Your most 
sincere and affectionate friend.' 

On the 4th of July 1775 a letter from Colonel Sharpe tells 
of the contest that was going on in the courts for the 
proprietorship of Maryland between Messrs. Hertford and 
Browning. ' So unprecedented and of such consequence 
was this cause held,' he says, ' that the Judge, lest he 
should be charged as I suppose with giving too hasty a 
determination, thought it proper to order a second hearing. 
However, by what dropt from the Judge during the argu- 
ment, it appeared to many as if it should be determined in 
favour of Mr. Browning. Before I say more I shall observe 
that according to the ancient feudal laws no manors could 
be conveyed or devised by will, so that on failure of issue 
those grants reverted to the Crown. This in time being 
complained of as a grievance a statute was made empower- 
ing the holders of manor lands to convey and dispose 
thereof by will. 

' The Counsel on behalf of Mr. Hertford in their argument 



264 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

treated the charter of Maryland as a mere grant of a manor, 
therefore disposable by the statute of wills. On the other 
side it was contended that the charter of Maryland was of 
a much higher nature and could not be otherwise deter- 
mined than as a principality and of course not devisable. 
Mr. Eden the Secretary, with counsel, attended on behalf 
of the governor, but neither himself or counsel opened 
their lips, disposed to have the advantage let the cause 
go which way it will. I am apt to think that judgment 
will pass in favour of Mr. Browning.' Colonel Sharpe speaks 
of the success of Colonel Lewis against the Indians, who 
seem again to have been troubling the people of Maryland. 
He continued : ' I am greatly pleased with what you relate 
of Corn Stalk. He is certainly a sensible Indian, a great 
warrior, and fit to command. So valuable and brave a 
man should at aU events be made a friend. Alas, all the 
happiness that would have flowed from these transactions 
is clouded over, if not for ever lost, by the mournful contest 
with the Parent state, a contest that makes me extremely 
unhappy, not only on my own account but that of my 
country, and if no favourable offer arrives, and that speedily, 
from your side of the water, I shall lose all hope of a 
reconciliation. May God avert it. My heart bleeds for 
America as well as England. 

' I am greatly obliged for the great care you have taken 
and the concern you show relative to my affairs. If the 
flour is shipped I have reason to think it wiU come to 
a good market. I am pleased with your intention of 
selling the wheat. I am to aclmowledge the receipt of 12 
Hambs, eight of which will be delivered in your name 
to Mr. Hamersley, the other four I intend to make use of 
myself. 

' Col. Lloyd is shortly to be married to Miss Lee, a young 



LA DlfiBACLE 265 

lady from the Isle of Wight, exceeding good, and she will 
when of age be entitled to a very genteel fortune. 

' The Lottery tickets are not issued ; as soon as they are 
the purchase shall be made and notice given to you and 
Dr. Scott of the number.' In a previous letter he had 
written : ' The act for a lottery is passed and you may 
dream of thousands till it is ended, for I shall make a 
gambling purchase for you, Dr. Scott, and self.' 

The rage for lotteries was at its height in England, and 
all classes were seized by it. Another letter from the 
ex-governor shows that his liking for Maryland ' hambs ' 
tempted him to reduce the number for Mr. Hamersley by 
two, as he thinks that six will be a handsome present. 
The reason he gives for the donation to Mr. Hamersley is 
that ' though most people are of the opinion that the 
sovereignty of the province is undoubtedly with Browning, 
yet there are many of a different way of thinking.' 

Colonel Sharpe's love for his garden at Whitehall still 
continued, and he promised to send his friend some young 
vines and plenty of cuttings from the best Burgundy 
grapes. The letter to Mr. Ridout continues : ' I am 
obliged to you for the Bills of Exchange, one for £37, 19s. 
4d. and the other for £10, which will pay for Sam's schoohng ^ 
to the 25th day of December, and no other demand can 
be made on his account until the next half-year, so that 
the net proceeds of your Tobacco which now bears a pretty 
high price, may be applied as you shall be pleased to direct. 
Enclosed I send you the King's speech, which I am sorry 
to say forebodes no good to America, and certain it is that 
a submission from America will be insisted on before any 

1 It has been stated that Horatio Sharpe paid Samuel Ridout's school 
fees, but this was not the case. When the Revokition was at its height 
and trade was stopped he advanced what sums were necessary. 



CiU' A OOl.OXlAl. C^OVKKNOK IX MAPxYLAXn 

eouoiliatvn'v moasiuvs \\i\\ he ailoptoil, that is, an aikuow 
lodgment of tlio power ot Parliamom to tax tlio oolouii\^. 
a publie satisfaction from Massaehusotts to the hulia Oo. 
for the loss of thoir tea, atiii a full sulm\ission to tho C'hartor 
of tluu Trovinoo as altered by an aet of the last rarliameut. 
As to the destroying of the town of Bostv>n. I never ean 
suppose any sueh nieasuiv >vas ever thought of or will be 
attempted. The fortifying it will be most likely muler- 
taken. As there seems little likelihood ot" having atfairs 
soon settled, and it the non-exportation of Tobaeeo should 
be resolved on I am afraiil sueh a measme will pre- 
judiee my Brother against n\y returning to Maryland 
at all; 

On the lOth of <hily he writes again io John Kidout : 
'My PKAi^ SiK. Words would want foree to i^xpress the 
joy of my heart eould I but form to myself the least hopes 
of a iveoneiliation. yet I must eonfess that what from the 
cahnness of the answer retmi\ed by the IVnnsylvania 
Assembly to the Cunernor's message, relating to Lord 
North's motion, the seasonable address of the eoimeil to 
the people of Virginia published sooi\ after Lord Oensmpiv's 
Pi-oelamation against Colonel lletiry, and the Instruetion 
w hieh was given to the Marylai\d delegates " not to go so 
far." I had, imtil the receipt of your favour of the Uith 
May, flattered u\yself into a belief tliat a eompromise 
would be brought about ; on the perusal of whieh all u\y 
hopes vanished like a ilreaut. You on that side o{ the 
Athintie say that the late Resohitions of rarliameut, so 
far from disposhig the People in general to subntit. that 
they have had quite a contrary etfect. and we on the other 
hand also say that your opposition is for ludepcndency. 
Should this be once ascertained it will infallibly unite the 
people as one man in support of the ministry. 



J.A \)f:\'.A(AA': 267 

' It mal<(5H mo hti\)\)y to fioar tfiat you intond- to take 
up your fCKidcnco at Whitehall, wfionj J think you may 
in some nmall degree avoid those inoonvenieneeH whieh 
cannot but ho frequently happen, in the city. 

' I also flatter rnyHCjlf that you are not riow to be told 
that there in no one thing either at WhiU^hall or in Mary- 
land b(;longing to me but what it m at your Herviee. 

' If my young BlavoH are ko numerouH an to be a great 
drawback on the produce of the farm you have my liberty 
to diHpoHC of as many aH you think neecHHary, provided 
they can at this time be dinpoKed of to advantage. I 
would not be undcrHtofjd \)y this that they arr; to be Hold 
to every purchaser, but to such ones as you are well assured 
will treat them with Humanity.' 

The viBit of Mr, and Mrs. Jtidout to J'^igland planned 
for the spring of 1775 did not take pla/;e, although arrange- 
ments were nearly completed. Joljn iiidout's longir^g to 
revisit his native land and to see his parents once more 
was destined not to be gratified. In January 1770 a 
permit for leaving Maryland was sent to him from England, 
but when it reached Annapolis it was nef;eHsary for every 
patriot British or American to ' stand in his lot.' He 
remained, not that he loved England less, but that he 
loved Maryland more. It was the land of his adoption, 
where he had come in his early manhood and hafl found 
wife and home and a career of honourable and useful Hcrvice. 
Maryland's position during the Revolution was unique, and 
so was the situation of the British Loyalists there. The 
resjject, confidence, and protection of both parties were 
accorded to them if they remained, and leave to go abroad 
was given if they so preferred. Many prominent men of 
the reconciliation party chose to join friends in England, 
Ireland, and France ; others, like John Kidout, felt it their 



268 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

duty to remain in America. Most stringent local laws 
were passed in Annapolis for the protection of British 
Loyalists of his type, faithful patriots, eager for reconciha- 
tion until the inevitable had to be accepted. When some 
people in Annapolis, in their zeal, gave their leaden window 
weights to be melted into bullets, and proposed that weights 
from all the houses should be so used, the committee of 
safety ordered that none should be accepted unless volun- 
tarily given, and on no account should they be taken 
from the houses of the Loyalists. A heavy penalty was 
imposed if this order was not obeyed. The rights and 
safety of Loyalists were carefully guarded in every par- 
ticular in Annapolis, where the authorities recognised the 
services of those who had struggled to secure the people's 
rights while still working for reconciliation with the mother 
country. 

In the early days of the war John Ridout and his wife 
remained at Whitehall superintending affairs there. An 
overseer, a redemptioner who had been treated with great 
kindness by Colonel Sharpe, had been left in charge. 
Finding that his lord did not return, and taking advantage 
of the unsettled state of the country, the man ceased to 
make remittances. He was dismissed, and Mr. Ridout 
took personal charge, and entered heartily into agricultural 
affairs. Madam Ridout, with the spirit of a true home 
missionary, looked after the welfare of the slaves, super- 
intended their clothing and the various industries carried 
on on the estate. Sometimes more than a year would 
pass without any communication between Whitehall and 
the beloved mother and son and friend in England. A 
few letters only survive of that anxious time. 

One tells of Samuel's last prize day at Harrow, when 
Colonel Sharpe took with him Mr. Lee of Virginia and Mr. 



LA DEBACLE 269 

Jenifer, a fellow member with Mr. Ridout of the King's 
Council, to witness his ward's triumph. The letter is full 
of praise of the youth, his bearing, and attainments. It 
had been intended that Samuel should enter Oxford, but 
the troublous times in America prevented that, and he 
joined his grandmother in France and remained there until 
1784. 

Darker days yet were to fall on the family in Maryland. 
Servants had been drafted for the war. The price of pro- 
visions was exorbitant ; even the common necessaries of 
life were hard to obtain. Under these circumstances, Mr. 
and Mrs. Ridout took refuge in the log cabin at Tonollaway. 
Their son Horace was sent to a boarding-school which had 
been opened in Frederick county by an English gentleman. 
Three thousand pounds of continental money was paid for 
his education there, procured by the sale of five hundred 
acres of land in Baltimore county. The sum was not so 
prodigious when we remember that the paper currency 
by which business was carried on was almost worthless. 
At the end of 1778 the paper dollar was worth twelve 
cents ; in 1780 it had fallen to two cents, and before 
the close of the year it took ten paper dollars to make a 
cent. ' Not worth a continental,' was an expression of 
contempt.^ 

How the war was waged with varying fortunes may be 
briefly told. 

Appeals for better government, arguments for colonial 
privileges, protestations of loyalty, prayers for redress had 
not been so much rejected as treated with contempt. In 
May 1775 three British generals arrived. Sir WiUiam Howe, 
Sir Henry Clinton, and General Burgoyne. On the 3rd of 

1 Indian corn sold for 150 dollars a bushel, butter was 12 dollars, tea 
90 dollars a pound, and a barrel of flour cost 1575 dollars. 



270 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

July Washington assumed command of the Americans. 
All winter the British remained inactive. Washington got 
cannon from Ticonderoga, which fort, as well as Crown 
Point, had been taken possession of by Ethan Allen and 
his Green Mountain boys. Montgomery, a former British 
officer, had taken the fort at the north of Lake Champlain, 
occupied Montreal, and with Benedict Arnold stormed 
Quebec, 31st December 1775, where he met his death. In 
October General Howe had superseded General Gage. On 
the 17th of March 1776 Boston was evacuated by the 
British, and Howe took the troops to Halifax by sea. 

The third Continental Congress met in May 1776 at 
Philadelphia, and the Declaration of Independence was 
signed on 4th July. New England was now hopelessly 
rebellious, but the middle colonies were mostly for the 
Crown. Washington transferred his headquarters to New 
York, and the valley of the Hudson became a long strategic 
line. On the 28th of June Lord Howe's transports gathered 
in New York harbour, while Washington was within his 
trenches at Brooklyn Heights. Even yet there was a 
chance for reconciliation, but while the Howes — Lord Howe 
and Sir William — offered pardon to all who would submit, 
they could offer no concessions. ^ 

Lord Howe issued his first proclamation on his arrival 
at Sandy Hook, and followed it up with messages to the 
congress at Philadelphia. Sir William landed his troops 
on the 21st of August at New York, and also offered general 
pardons by proclamation. On the 27th he drove the 
American outposts in. Washington saw that the Heights 
were untenable, and ordered the withdrawal of his raw, 

^ Admiral Lord Howe and Sir William were brothers of the Lord Howe 
who fell at Ticonderoga, who had been idolised by the troops he com- 
manded, and whose memory was held in great esteem in America. 



LA DEBACLE 271 

undisciplined troops. There was again a message of 
conciliation to congress. 

Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and E. Rutledge met 
Lord Howe and Sir William to discuss terms. Dr. Franklin 
had been in London until March, and had there talked with 
Lord Howe concerning affairs in America ; but the ministry 
were not willing then to make the concessions which would 
have ended the struggle — nor would they now. The 
conference was fruitless. Washington retired, kept his 
men together, and repulsed the British at Harlaam Heights 
on the 16th September, and held his own at White Plains 
on the 28th of October. He did not abandon Manhattan 
until after Greene's defeat at Fort Washington on the 16th 
of November. Sir Guy Carleton, in the meantime, had 
driven Benedict Arnold from Canada, and by the 14th 
of October had occupied Crown Point. 

On the 30th November 1776 Howe again issued a pro- 
clamation of pardon. There was dejection everywhere 
among the provincials. Washington had scarcely three 
thousand men, and the Declaration of Independence looked 
like a piece of bravado. Congress fled from Philadelphia 
to Baltimore, but on Christmas Day Washington crossed 
the Delaware and took Trenton at the point of the bayonet. 
Cornwallis with eight thousand men advanced from New 
York, but Washington slipped away at night, beat the 
detachment at Princeton on the 2nd January 1777, and 
withdrew to the heights at Morristown. Once again the 
Americans controlled New Jersey, Frederick of Prussia 
said it had been the most brilliant campaign of the century. 
Trenton and Princeton, though slight affairs, had turned 
the current of events. 

The year 1777 dawned on an apparently settled war. 
There was no money for Washington's troops, and men 



272 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

deserted by scores. The general said he was losing more 
men by desertion than he was gaining by enlistment. The 
English plan of campaign was to make three separate 
attacks. Burgoyne was to move down Lake Champlain. 
Another division under General St. Leger was to move from 
Oswego, and a third, mider General Howe, was to meet 
them from the south, moving up the Hudson. 

It was a simple thing to pass Lake Champlain and occupy 
the forts on its shore, but the forests around the upper 
waters of the Hudson swarmed with hidden foes. Burgoyne 
had been obliged to leave large detachments to guard the 
forts he had taken, and when with the balance of his troops 
he reached Saratoga he found himself outnumbered by the 
provincials. His disciplined troops always gained the ad- 
vantage in a set encounter, but were useless in the guerilla 
warfare that was carried on under the leadership of Benedict 
Arnold. No reinforcements reached him, and on the 17th 
of October 1777 the British general was forced to capitulate. 
Howe, in the meantime, instead of meeting Burgoyne, had 
struck off further south, with Philadelphia as his goal. 
He attempted to reach it through the Jerseys, but was 
foiled by Washington. He therefore fell back on New 
York, and placed his army of eighteen thousand men in 
transports to go by sea to Maryland, that they might thus 
reach Philadelphia from the south. 

At Brandy wine he met and defeated Washington's troops, 
and entered Philadelphia in triumph on the 27th September. 
It was not until October that Sir Henry Clinton, moving 
from New York, marched all too late to the rehef of 
Burgoyne. In the meantime, arms and ammunition and 
munitions of war had been secretly sent by France to the 
aid of the revolted colonies. 

Franklin was now in Paris working to this end. Frederick 



LA D:fiBACLE 273 

of Prussia, who was keenly watching the conflict, gave orders 
not to allow German troops in the pay of England to cross 
his territory. Volunteers from Germany, France, and 
Prussia were serving in Washington's army ; but this army 
was in desperate straits at Valley Forge during the winter 
of 1777-8. Nevertheless it came out more fit for action in 
the spring — drilled by the German colonel, Baron Steuben. 
Washington's men starved and worked, while Howe's men 
danced and idled at Philadelphia. 

In February Lord North introduced reconciliatory 
measures, retracing every false step taken with regard to 
the colonies. Commissioners of peace were sent out to 
America ; but it was too late. That month a treaty of 
peace was signed between France and the United States. The 
congress would not treat with the Enghsh commissioners. 

General Clinton, who had succeeded Howe in command, 
had orders from England to abandon Philadelphia and 
concentrate his forces at New York. The heavy guns, the 
wounded and sick were placed on the transports, together 
with three thousand Loyahsts who sacrificed their homes 
and fortunes for England's sake. Clinton, after a terrible 
march, barely escaped with the wreck of his army from 
the watchful Washington. England had now no hold in 
America except her lines and some seaports. 

In 1778 and 1779 backwoodsmen under Clarke swept the 
country of the Illinois, and made still larger the district 
to be conquered for the Crown. 

In the far south the British were successful. Savannah 
was taken by Clinton 29th December 1778, while Washington 
could do nothing against him in New York without a naval 
force. In 1779 Spain joined with France against England, 
and on the 10th of July 1780 a French fleet at Newport 
landed six thousand men, under Rochambeau. Clinton 

s 



274 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

left a large garrison in New York, and with eight thousand 
men went by sea to Charlestown, where he was entirely 
successful. He was joined by South Carolina Loyalists, 
the British troops swept the country, and Clinton went 
back to New York, leaving Cornwallis to complete the 
work of subjugation. Horatio Gates commanded the 
Americans, and he was defeated by Cornwallis on the 16th 
of August 1780. The news of this victory was received 
with joy in England, where it was thought impossible that 
British arms should not be successful in the end. ' We 
look on America as at our feet,' Horace Walpole proudly 
wrote. 

In the meantime all the states had accepted articles of 
confederation except Delaware and Maryland. The latter 
held out to the last, and Maryland's statesmanlike scruples 
kept the country without a government through that all 
but hopeless year, 1780. In the autumn came the great 
catastrophe for the British. 

Cornwallis, who had carried on a successful campaign in 
the Carohnas, ventured too far from his base, and was beset 
like Burgoyne. On his way north he lost twelve hundred 
men at King's Mountain. He could not get back, and 
could only press forward into Virginia. Here his forces 
were caught in detail. In midsummer 1781 he entrenched 
himself with eight thousand men at Yorktown. There he 
was trapped. 

The Count de Grasse was in the West Indies with twenty- 
eight ships of the line, six frigates, and twenty thousand 
men. Washington asked him to join him in Virginia. 
Washington had with him four thousand Frenchmen under 
Rochambeau, and two thousand Continentals, and marched 
four hundred miles straight to York River. There he 
found Cornwallis penned in with de Grasse's fleet in the 



LA DEBACLE 275 

bay and Lafayette entrenched across the peninsula with 
five thousand men. Three thousand men were put ashore 
from the fleet, and Cornwallis was forced to surrender on 
17th October 1781. 

It was on the 19th of October 1781 that Cornwalhs's army 
of seven thousand two hundred and forty-seven men 
marched out of York with colours furled, while the band 
played, ' The world turned upside down.' It was noon on 
25th November when the news was brought to Lord George 
Germaine in London. ' God, it is all over ! ' Lord North 
exclaimed. Fox clapped his hands, and William Pitt the 
younger openly rejoiced, for he had always looked on the 
war as an unrighteous one. Until the treaty of peace was 
definitely signed many thought that, under different 
generals, England would yet regain her lost colonies, but 
it was not to be. Finis was the word. 

' Who has not speculated in the course of his reading 
of history upon the " Has been " and the " Might have 
been " ? I take my tattered old map-book from the shelf 
and see the board on which the great contest was played ; 
I wonder at the curious chances which lost it, and putting 
aside any idle talk about the respective bravery of the 
two nations, can't but see that we had the best cards and 
that we lost the game.' ^ 

* Thackeray, The Virginians. 



AFTERWARDS 

Extract from a letter written by Mrs. John Ridout to her 
mother, Mrs. Samuel Ogle, dated Annapolis, 16th January 
1784: 

' I wrote to you, my dear mamma, some weeks ago by a 
frigate that went from this place to Brest. This you will 
certainly receive, as it goes by a gentleman that carries a 
copy of the definitive Treaty ratified by Congress who are 
in this Town at present, but I fear they will not make it 
their permanent residence — it would make property here 
of value if they did. I went with several others to see 
General Washington resign his Commission. The congress 
were assembled in the State House, both Houses of Assembly 
were present as spectators, the Gallery full of ladies. 

' The general seemed so much affected himself that every- 
body felt for him. He addressed congress in a short speech, 
but very affecting. Many tears were shed. He has retired 
from all public business and designs to spend the rest of 
his days at his own seat. I think the world never produced 
a greater man, and very few so good. . . , 

' We have a very pretty and agreeable little man here, 
Mr. Harford. 1 I hope the Assembly will do something 
handsome for him — they ought when they have taken 
such a noble estate from him. He is much hked. 

' Sir Robert Eden seems in bad health. He does not 
flirt now. They are very agreeable neighbours to us. 

1 Harford or Hertford was the illegitimate son of Frederick, Lord 
Baltimore. 
S7C 




THE UPrON SCOTT HOUSE 



\To face p. 277 



AFTERWARDS 277 

They live in Doctor Scott's house. The Doctor himself 
is in an ill state of health.' 

Letter from the Hon. John Ridout to Colonel Sharpe : 

• Annapolis, 21th July 1784. 

' Dear Sir, — I had not sealed my letter of yesterday's 
date three hours, when the owner of a boat belonging to 
this place who had been down the Bay, came ashore and 
reported that the Sally, Captain Hunter, from London had 
just brought to a little below the mouth of the river ; that 
he saw some passengers on the deck, both ladies and 
gentlemen, that the sailors were lowering baggage into 
the pilot boat alongside. 

' As you may suppose, such intelligence put us into no 
little flutter ; I looked out and discovered the ship and 
about noon saw the pilot boat come into the harbour, 
while the ship stood up the bay, the wind blowing very 
fresh at S. West. This it had continued to do all the 
preceding night, so that she had run up from the capes 
in 24 hours. When the pilot boat had come within a few 
hundred yards of the wharf, the lads whom the pilot had 
left in her dropt anchor, being afraid to come nigher. I 
instantly stept into a small canoe, there being no row boat 
in the dock, and went on board, where I had the happiness 
to find Mrs. Ogle, Sam, Miss Anderson, and my brother 
Thomas in perfect health ; it was not without a good deal 
of difficulty nor in less than a quarter of an hour that I 
could prevail on the young men to hoist sail and run the 
pilot boat to the wharf so that the ladies may step ashore, 
for as to Sam and my brother, they had landed in the 
canoe. They had, it seems, almost during the whole voyage 
met with contrary winds and had sometimes tempestuous 
weather, not being able to get farther southward than the 



278 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

latitude of 36. The first land they made was Matchapungo 
Shoals, about 30 miles northward of Cape Charles. Captain 
Hunter behaved, they tell me, exceedingly well towards 
them during the whole voyage, but failed a little at last by 
showing a great unwillingness and for some time refusing 
to bring his ship to off this place, insisting that he should 
not be justifiable in stopping a moment till he reached 
Baltimore. Knowing it will afford you great pleasure to 
hear of their safe arrival here and of our happy meeting 
after so many years and such variety of events, I write 
these few lines while they are all asleep, lest the Captain 
who has taken charge of my letter of yesterday should 
leave town early to-day and return to his ship, which is 
I understand loaded and ready to sail from Potowmack.' 

Colonel Sharpe writes of Samuel Chase's visit to London : 

' Hearing Mr. Chase was in town sent on a public mission, 
I waited some days thinking he would call and see me, but 
suddenly realising the change in our positions I made up 
my mind to put pride aside and call on him. At first he 
seemed rather constrained and embarrassed, but he was 
soon made to feel at his ease, and old time cordiality returned 
as I made anxious inquiries of him for yourself and family 
and our old friends Dr. Scott, Mr. Carroll, and many others.' 

The colonel's heart was still warm for Maryland. He 
was then living at Hampstead, where he had a garden, and 
he asks for ivy to be sent him from Whitehall, and poison 
asp from his Frederick plantations, to make ' an album in 
his English garden.' 

John Ridout had managed to save the Whitehall estate 
from confiscation by some exchange of property in Ireland, 
and was also able to collect some debts due to the colonel 
by the Custis family and others, but he told his friend to 



AFTERWARDS 279 

be content with the principal and not to expect interest, 
for ' these people have suffered too much.' 

In 1789 Mr. Ridout made arrangements for the long- 
deferred visit to England, and letters from Colonel Sharpe 
express great delight at the prospect of once more taking 
him by the hand. This time the embarkation was actually 
made from Alexandria, but after being out two weeks the 
vessel sprang a leak, and returned. All hands had to work 
at the pumps night and day to save her from sinking until 
she arrived in port. After waiting two weeks more for 
repairs the vessel was pronounced unseaworthy, and no 
other being available the voyage to England was given up. 

In 1790 came the sad news of Horatio Sharpe's death 
at Hampstead, in the seventy-second year of his age. A 
cameo ring, still cherished in the family (now in possession 
of Dr. William G. Ridout, fourth in descent from the Hon. 
John Ridout) bears the hkeness of the colonel in old age, 
and has this inscription : ' With affectionate and loving 
remembrance to John Ridout, my valued and faithful 
friend in pubhc and private. Horatio Sharpe, ohii 9th 
Nov. 1790, CBt 72.' In his will he bequeathed Whitehall to 
the same beloved friend, at whose death it was to pass 
to Samuel and Horatio Ridout, the two sons. Whitehall 
was the joy and delight of the family. John Ridout 
survived his friend seven years, and died in 1797 at the 
age of sixty-five years. He was laid to rest in the private 
burial ground of Whitehall, which is still in the possession 
of the Ridouts. By his request no stone marks his grave. 

His eldest son, Samuel, on his return from abroad entered 
IVIr. Stone's office for the study of law, and did his life's 
work nobly in his native town. He married in 1790 Mary 
Grafton Addison (a descendant of Colonel John Addison, 
brother of the Dean of Lichfield), and lived until 1840, 



280 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

dying in the house on Duke of Gloucester Street where he 
was born. 

The venerated grandmother, Mrs. Ogle, lived after her 
return to America in 1784 for twenty years with her son-in- 
law John Ridout, and after his death with her grandson 
Samuel. Her only son, Benjamin, lived in the house built 
by his father. Governor Ogle, in King George Street. He, 
too, was governor of Maryland from 1798 to 1801. 

Horatio Ridout, John Ridout's second son, married 
Rachel Goldsborough and lived at Whitehall, which remained 
in the possession of the Ridouts for one hundred and sixteen 
years. 

Anne Tasker Ridout (httle Nancy) married in 1785 Mr. 
Gibson of the Eastern Shore, and lived in the house built 
for her by her father next his own in Duke of Gloucester 
Street. 

Her cousin Harriet Anderson (a daughter of Leliora 
Ogle) came to Annapolis with her grandmother in 1784, 
and married Mr. Buchanan, afterwards Chief-Justice 
Buchanan. 

In the century and a quarter that has passed old Anna- 
polis (with the exception of the addition of the splendid 
naval academy) has changed but little, and it remains to- 
day a unique town in America. One might without surprise 
see ' our colonial governor ' himself walk down Duke of 
Gloucester Street, or George Washington emerge from one 
of those stately doorways that have remained unaltered 
since his day. 

In the hall of the Ridout house is the very table at which 
he so often dined ; the harpsichord that was sent as a 
wedding present in 1764 from Lady Essex to her cousin 
Mary Ogle still stands in the corner. Silver, china, 
old carved furniture remain as they were in the old days. 




GEORGE BENJAMIN TASKER-OGLE 



{To/ace f>. 280 



AFTERWARDS 281 

]Mrs. Ogle's work-table is still in the sunny window looking 
out on that terraced garden where year by year have 
bloomed for more than a century the flowers she loved and 
planted. 

Upstairs lies folded the olive satin gown that Madam 
Ridout wore on that notable day when the great general 
came back to Annapolis to lay down his victorious sword. 

On the stairway of the Chase House/ where Hester 
Chase Ridout lived after the death of her husband, still 
ticks the clock that marked the hours at Whitehall. There 
on the table is the punch bowl that once upon a time, in 
Governor Sharpe's hospitable house, filled with fragrant 
sangaree, welcomed the coming or sped the parting guest. 
On the table, too, is his sword. 

It is summer once more in the ancient town. The honey- 
suckle blooms in the garden of the old Ridout house. Down 
the path among the roses comes a little maiden three years 
old, the latest descendant of the Bladens and Taskers and 
Ogles and Ridouts of Maryland, and she plays in the garden 
that her great-great-great-grandmother planted, and her 
nursery is the room where Horatio Sharpe spent his last 
night in America. 

^ Built by Samuel Chase the Signer. 



APPENDIX 

MARYLAND AND THE LORDS BALTIMORE 

When George Calvert, in the reign of his friend and sovereign 
James i., obtained a patent for the south-eastern part of New- 
foundland, he determined to found there a colony to the glory 
of God and for the spreading of His gospel among the heathen. 
Shortly after the grant of the patent to Calvert, he announced 
to the king that he had left the Established Church of England 
and had joined the Roman Catholic communion. In spite of 
this the king did not withdraw his favour from him, but raised 
him to the Irish Peerage as Baron of Baltimore in the county 
of Longford. 

In 1628 he set out to inspect the colony he had planted in 
1621, taking with him his wife and children, with the exception 
of his oldest son. He was woefully disappointed. In a letter 
to the Duke of Buckingham he writes : ' I came to build and 
settle and sow, but I am fain to fighting with Frenchmen who 
have heere disquieted me and many other of His Majesty's 
subjects fishing in this land.' 

Besides fighting the French, the climate seems not to have 
been to his liking, for in a letter to King Charles he says : ' I 
have found by too dear bought experience that from the middlest 
of October to the middlest of May there is a sadd fare of wynter 
upon all this land. 

' I am determined therefore to commit this place to fishermen 
that are able to encounter storms and hard weather, and to 
remove miself with some forty persons to your Majesty's 
dominion of Virginia, where if your Majesty will be pleased to 
grant me a precinct of land with such privileges as the King 
your father, my gracious master, was pleased to grant me 

282 



APPENDIX 283 

here, I shall endeavour to the utmost of my power to 
deserve it.' 

The end of the story is given in a letter from the Rev. Mr. 
Mead, who reports that ' my Lord Baltimore, being weary of his 
intolerable plantation of Newfoundland, sent home some of his 
children to England, and went with his lady into Virginia.' 

Here he was not received very cordially, as the Virginians 
were a little jealous of one who came seeking to found a new 
colony in what they considered their territory. However, Lord 
Baltimore determined to go to England and seek another patent 
from the king. His Majesty would not permit him to return, 
but told him to send for his wife and children, whom he had 
left behind in Virginia. The cup of his misfortunes was not 
full, for the barque in which his family set sail was lost with 
all on board. In 1632 the much-tried man died, just after 
obtaining from Charles a charter for a new colony. 

It was therefore his son, Csecilius, second Lord Baltimore, to 
whom was entrusted the task of founding Maryland. The 
father had selected for his grant a lovely and fertile region on 
the Chesapeake Bay, as yet unsettled, although Virginia laid 
claim to it. Here he meant, under his own government, to build 
up a home for the religious freedom denied to his fellow- subjects 
in England. In after days, the Puritan, the Catholic, and the 
Quaker found sanctuary in Maryland. Though George Calvert 
had passed away without realising the dream of his life, his 
son, who under the charter became true lord and proprietary, 
carried out his plans. 

The charter reads : ' To hold of us, our heirs and successors, 
as of our castle of Windsor, in our county of Berks, in free and 
common soccage, by fealty only for all services, and not in 
capita, nor in knight's service, yielding therefore unto us, our 
heirs and successors. Two Indian arrows of these parts, to be 
delivered at the said castle every year.' 

Besides the rights granted to the proprietary, who in his 
own province was little less than a king, the people had the 



284 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

right to remain English subjects, and as such to inherit, purchase, 
or possess land in England. Also, they were granted freedom 
of trade to English ports, participation in making the laws, and 
exemption from taxation by the Crown. They had also the 
right to trade in Holland and elsewhere, which Virginia had not. 

Coecilius Calvert at first intended to go out in person to his 
new province, but finally determined on sending his two brothers 
to establish his government, making the eldest, Leonard, lieu- 
tenant-governor or general. 

A great part of the original emigrants were Roman Catholics, 
and the cost of the first emigration, about £40,000, was borne by 
Lord Baltimore. Two vessels with symbolical names, the Ark 
and the Dove, were fitted out for the expedition, and left England 
in November 1633. Nearly two hundred gentlemen adventurers 
and their servants embarked. A Jesuit priest. Father White, 
who sailed among the company, has left a most interesting and 
entertaining account of the expedition (Scharf's History of 
Maryland). 

The governor, Leonard Calvert, seems to have treated the 
Indians with discretion and humanity. They in turn received 
the newcomers kindly, even sharing their cabins with the 
strangers, and teaching them how to hunt the game that was 
so plentiful about them. In fact, it was at first an ideal com- 
munity, and to crown their welcome, Sir John Harvey, the 
governor of Virginia, paid a friendly visit to them, and a great 
feast was made on board of the ship, at which the Indian king 
of Patuscent was a guest, and sat at the table of honour between 
the two English governors. 

An Indian village, Yoacomacoes, was selected by the governor 
as his first settlement, and having given the Indians in exchange 
English cloth, axes, hoes and knives, the adventurers entered 
into possession on the 27tli of March 1634, and called the place 
St. Maries. 

The serpent in the Eden was one Claibourne, a Virginian 
who claimed the island of Kent within the boundaries of the 



APPENDIX 285 

new province, and for many years did what he could to fostei 
ill-will between the Indians and the colonists, and between 
Virginia and Maiyland. 

On the 26th of February 1635 the first assembly was con- 
vened, and according to the charter the measures they drew 
up were sent to the proprietary in England for approval. He 
objected to them, and for two years the colony remained under 
the common law of England. In 1637 Lord Baltimore sent 
special authority to his brother George to call together the 
assembly during the winter, and to propose to them a body of 
laws of his own preparation. At this second session the colonists 
rejected these laws totally, and so began the struggle between 
the assembly and the proprietary as to the rights of legislation, 
which lasted until the Revolution. 

The assembly then consisted of but one House composed of 
all the freemen of the colony, and the governor presided as 
chief executive and speaker of the House. The model was the 
British House of Commons. The population of the colony at 
that time (1635), including the town of St. Mary's and the 
people in Kent Island, did not exceed seven hundred. At last, 
after the third attempt of the assembly to frame their own 
laws, the proprietary made some concessions, allowing the 
colonists to initiate la^\'s, though reserving for himself the 
power of veto. 

In 1641 a representative legislature seems to have been 
established, the freemen of the province being represented by 
burgesses chosen electively. 

The Indian tribes, as their lands were being further encroached 
on, were growing restless. The fierce Susquehannoughs were 
on the warpath, and even the peaceful Patuscents showed signs 
of hostility, fostered doubtless by the malign influence of 
Claibourne. 

In 1643 Leonard Calvert went on a visit to England, and 
while he was away a friend of Claibourne's, Captain Richard 
Ingle, who seems to have been both pirate and rebel, hovered 



286 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

round the settlement with an armed ship, stirring up the dis- 
affected in the province. Of late there had been a growing feel- 
ing of discontent, partly stirred up by Claibourne, and partly 
occasioned by the same feeling of animosity that was growing 
in England between Puritan and Catholic, between Roundhead 
and Cavalier. An order had been sent from the king of England 
to take possession of any ships fitted out in the parliamentary 
interest in the colonies, and as Ingle's ship was the only one 
answering the description, it was seized in the name of the 
king, and Captain Ingle was taken, charged with treason, and 
put in prison. However, he soon escaped from it, and joined 
Claibourne. 

When Leonard Calvert returned from England in September 
1644 he found the province in much confusion. The Indians 
were threatening. Ingle was free, and Claibourne was openly 
hostile. The latter had been appointed treasurer of Virginia 
by the king in 1642, but nothing would content him but the 
proprietorship of the island of Kent. 

As the king's cause waned in England, Claibourne became 
more distinctly on the parliamentary side. The battle of 
Marston Moor, in 1644, still further increased his boldness. 
Lord Baltimore being, of course, a Royalist, and not disposed to 
desert his sovereign in his hour of need, his possession of Mary- 
land was becoming very insecure. Claibourne seized Kent 
Island, and with Ingle invaded the western shore of Maryland. 
The proprietary government \\as overthrown, and Leonard 
Calvert had to take refuge in Virginia. Although that dominion 
had treated Maryland with hostility, Calvert was warmly 
received, for the Virginians did not love the Puritans, and 
were Royalists to the core. Sir William Berkeley was the 
governor, and long after England had submitted to the parlia- 
mentary party, Virginia was loyal to the king. For nearly 
two years the insurgents remained in power. The Catholic 
missionaries, including Father White, were sent in chains to 
England. 



APPENDIX 287 

Thus Maryland shared in the convulsion that was shaking 
the mother country. In 1646, however, order was once more 
restored by the well disposed in the province, who were tired of 
the factious rule of Claibourne and his associates ; and Leonard 
Calvert returned to his office. He did not long survive, but 
died on the 9th of June 1647. 

In England the royal cause seemed hopeless, and Lord 
Baltimore felt that the province he had founded at so much 
cost would pass away from him and his heirs. In order to save 
it, he appointed as governor WiUiam Stone of Virginia, a 
Protestant, and also sent commissions as privy councillors to 
six men, of whom half were Protestants. The Lower House 
consisted of nine burgesses, chiefly Catholics, and they were 
required to take the same oath as the governor relating to the 
religious liberty of all sects of the Christian religion, ^'\^len 
the next assembly met, in April 1649, the Act concerning 
religion, or Toleration Act, was passed, making it unlawful to 
speak reproachfully of either Puritan or Papist, Presbyterian 
or Jesuit, Lutheran or Calvinist, etc., and also enacting ' that 
no person professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall from hence- 
forth be troubled, molested, or discountenanced for or in respect 
of his or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof within this 
province or the islands thereunto belonging.' 

As the province was a palatinate,^ it Avas within the power 

^ The origin of the term ' palatine ' is usually assigned to the times of 
the Merovingian kings of France, who delegated a quasi royal power in 
judicial matters to an officer called Count of the palace. The title and 
exclusive powers were afterwards bestowed upon great vassals, who were 
entrusted with almost kingly powers in their fiefs. These dignities were 
known as kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, seigniories, etc., outside of 
England, but when granted within the limits of England they were 
usually designated counties palatine. Chester and Diu-ham were counties 
palatine in the reign of William i. Edward iii. erected Lancaster into a 
palatinate. Henry iv. granted the Isle of Man as a kingdom to the Earls 
of Northumberland, and after their attainder Henry vii. granted it in the 
same form to the House of Stanley, to whom in large part he owed his 
crown. The heads of these palatinate governments were invested with 
powers and prerogatives little short of those of royalty itself. 



288 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

of the proprietary to carry out his liberal policy without 
molestation. 

One little episode happened this year which showed a sturdy 
independence of the then dominant power in England. When 
Charles i. was executed, the English Parliament passed a decree 
declaring it to be treason for any one to acknowledge Charles 
Stuart, son of the late Charles, commonly called the Prince of 
Wales, to be king. In spite of this, Thomas Greene, acting 
governor of Maryland in Stone's absence, issued a proclamation 
on 15th November 1649 declaring Charles to be the undoubted 
rightful heir of all his father's dominions. 

Although affairs seemed to be progressing favourably to the 
proprietary in his distant province, a storm gathered from an 
unexpected quarter, Charles ii., though an exile in Holland, 
was displeased with Lord Baltimore for having given permission 
to the expelled Puritans from Virginia to settle in Maryland, 
and issued an order deposing the proprietary on account of his 
adhering to the rebels in England, and admitting all kinds of 
schismatics into the plantations. Therefore he appointed Sir 
William Davenant to be royal governor in Maryland.^ 

Davenant set sail with a colony of Frenchmen, but was taken 
in the Enghsh Channel and imprisoned in Cowes Castle, to be 
released soon after, however, by the friendly offices of the poet, 

1 William Davenant, an English poet and playwright, was born in 1616, 
at Oxford, where his father kept the Crown Inn, a house at which 
Shakespeare was in the habit of stopping when on his journeys between 
London and Stratford. Davenant while still a child had a great admira- 
tion for Shakespeare, and when only ten years old, on the occasion of 
Shakespeare's death, he penned an ode, ' In remembrance of Master 
William Shakespeare.' He began to write for the stage in the year 1628, 
and ten years after, on the death of Ben Jonson, he was appointed poet 
laureate. He afterwards became manager of Drury Lane Theatre, but 
entering into the Civil War on the Royalist side, he was apprehended and 
cast into the Tower. He escaped to France, and afterwards returning 
distinguished himself so much that he was knighted by Charles after the 
battle of Gloucester. His second imprisonment is related above. Once 
more free, he set about establishing a theatre. After the Restoration he 
was favoured by royal patronage, and continued to write verses and plays 
until his death in 1668. 



APPENDIX 289 

Milton, now Cromwell's secretary. The unfortunate proprietary 
had pleased neither master, for he now found he was about to 
suffer for the ill-timed proclamation of Charles ii. as king in 
his province. In order to exculpate himself. Lord Baltimore 
went before a parliamentary committee, and showed that 
Governor Stone was a Protestant and a Parliamentarian, and 
claimed that he himself had given the Independents an asylum 
in Maryland when they were expelled from Virginia. His efforts 
were successful, and the committee decided that his province 
was not to be disturbed. 

It was an anxious time though, for Charles ii. had returned 
from exile, and was waging a desperate war with Cromwell. If 
royalty succeeded. Lord Baltimore was out of favour, and as a 
Catholic he was looked on with suspicion and dislike by the 
Parliamentarians. Then came the battle of Worcester, that 
made Charles once more a fugitive and an exile, and settled 
Cromwell as Lord Protector of England. 

Then came orders for the English fleet to depart for the 
reduction of that contumacious dominion of Virginia. On board 
that fleet were a hundred and fifty Scotch soldiers, taken prisoners 
at Worcester and sent as slaves to the colonies. Virginia soon 
submitted to Cromwell's forces ; and now they directed their 
attention to Maryland. Governor Stone was required to recog- 
nise the authority of Parliament, and as he did not immedi- 
ately do so, Cromwell's commissioners issued a proclamation 
depriving him of his government and making void all the acts 
of the proprietary. It looked as if the province were lost to 
him for ever. Governor Stone, however, made an arrange- 
ment whereby he held the government until the pleasure of the 
authorities in England should be known. 

Lord Baltimore did not give up his possessions without a 
struggle, and issued his orders to Governor Stone to require all 
persons holding office to take the oath of fidelity to him, and 
to re-estabhsh the proprietary government. The Dutch war 
now being at its height, little notice was taken in England of 

T 



290 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

these distant plantations. Clai bourne was still at work to depose 
Lord Baltimore, and coerce Governor Stone into submission. 
Religion was brought in to aid his machinations, and Puritan 
was set against Catholic. Claibourne succeeded in having 
commissioners appointed in the name of Oliver Cromwell. These 
summoned an assembly, for which all such should be disabled 
to give any vote or be ' elected members thereof, as have borne 
arms in war against the Parliament or do profess the Roman 
Catholic religion. Alas for the dream of George Calvert and 
for religious liberty in Maryland ! 

Cromwell was conciliatory to the proprietary, and apparently 
anxious not to disturb his rights in the province. Lord Balti- 
more, learning that the government was now administered by 
commissioners appointed by Claibourne, dispatched a special 
messenger to the colony, rebuking Stone for so tamely yielding 
up his government. Another governor was appointed in his 
place, one Josias Fendall. Lord Baltimore also sent his brother, 
Philip Calvert, to act as secretary. 

After a struggle of six years, the Puritans in Maryland were 
overthrown, and the lord proprietary restored to his full rights. 
Charles n. now reigned in England. In 1660 Philip Calvert was 
commissioned as governor, having procured from King Charles n. 
an order commanding all the of&cers and inhabitants of the 
province to aid him in the re-establishment of his government. 
He was succeeded as governor by his nephew, Charles Calvert, 
son of the proprietary, who held that office until the death of 
his father in 1675. Cascilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, 
died on the 30th of November of that year, leaving behind an 
illustrious name. 

Charles Calvert succeeded him as the third Lord, and having 
appointed Thomas Nolly as deputy-governor in the name of his 
infant son Cecil, he returned to England. 

In 1680 Lord Baltimore returned to Maryland, and now again 
religious intolerance lifted its head. The religious struggle be- 
tween Catholics and Protestants in England was being reflected 



APPENDIX 291 

in America. Another trouble also arose, connected with the 
boundary question. It was in 1680 that William Penn received 
his grant in America from King James ii., and the boundary 
dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania that lasted so 
many years had its beginning from that time. 

When the Revolution of 1688 placed William and Mary on 
the throne of England, the proprietary gave in his adliesion to 
them, but King William determined to send over a governor to 
administer affairs as representative of the Crown. Lord Balti- 
more offered to place the government in Protestant hands, 
though he would not surrender his charter. Sir Lionel Copley 
nevertheless received his commission as first royal governor of 
Maryland. 

Governor Copley died in 1693, and Sir Edmund Andros claimed 
the government, in spite of Thomas Nicholson's prior claims. 
He kept it only ten days, followed by Colonel Nicholas Green- 
bury, who held the reins until Nicholson arrived from England. 
The latter immediately convened the assembly to meet, not at 
St, Marie, but at Anne Arundel-town, afterwards known as 
Annapolis. It was Nicholson who urged on the Crown the 
importance of bringing all the colonies under one head and one 
viceroy, and of keeping up a standing army. 

Nathaniel Blaikiston succeeded Nicholson as governor. In 
1702 he solicited Queen Anne to permit him to return to England, 
and John Seymour was appointed in his stead. 

In 1710 Charles Calvert petitioned the Crown that his province 
might be restored, but this was denied on account of his religion. 
He died on the 28th of February 1714, and was succeeded by 
his son, Benedict Leonard Calvert, as fourth Lord Baltimore. 

The new proprietary had in 1713 renounced the Roman 
Cathohc religion, much to the displeasure of his father, who 
in consequence withdrew his allowance. The change of faith 
was palpably not one of conviction, but of self-interest. He 
announced his change of religion in a memorial to King George i. 
in 1715, in which he stated that his six children, four sons and 



292 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

two daughters, had been brought up by his father abroad in 
Popish seminaries, but he had brought them back to England, 
and had placed them in Protestant schools in London. 

In the meantime, the last royal governor, Captain John Hart, 
had been sent to the province, and in 1714 the last assembly 
was held in Annapolis under the royal government. 

Benedict Leonard survived his father only a few months, and 
died on the 5th of April 1715, leaving an infant son, Charles, 
now being brought up a Protestant, as fifth Lord Baltimore. 
The king granted to him the restoration of his proprietary 
rights, ' to give encouragement to the educating of the numerous 
issue of so noble a family in the Protestant religion.' 

There was still a Catholic party in the province of Maryland 
favourable to the restoration of the Stuarts, who drank the health 
of the Chevalier de St. George as James ill. of England. An 
Act was therefore passed at the first session held under the new 
proprietary, introducing the test oath of England, and excluding 
Catholics from all participation in the government. All persons 
admitted to enjoy any place of trust in the province were required 
to take the oath of abhorrency against the Pope, of allegiance 
to King George, and abjuration of the claims of the Pretender. 

The government now became exclusively Protestant, and 
many oppressions were practised on the Catholics of Maryland. 

In 1715 Maryland contained forty thousand adult males and 
nine thousand five hundred negroes. 

There was a protest against bringing convicts into the colonies, 
but after the rising in 1715 in favour of James Stuart, two 
shiploads of unfortunate Jacobites were sent over and sold as 
servants, and many a gallant Scot wore his life out on the 
plantations in helpless slavery. The vessels that brought them 
over bore the names, in cruel mockery, of Friendship and Good 
Speed. 

In 1720 Lord Baltimore's uncle. Captain Charles Calvert of 
the Foot Guards, became governor. He died in 1726, and the 
proprietary's brother, Benedict Leonard Calvert, was appointed 



APPENDIX 293 

in his place. Another brother, Edward, was made president of 
the council. 

In 1731 Benedict Calvert returning to England on account of 
ill health, died on the voyage, and was succeeded by Samuel 
Ogle, who remained governor for eleven years. During that 
term the boundary disputes between Maryland and Pennsylvania 
became violent, and his administration was much disturbed by 
them. Thomas Bladen succeeded Samuel Ogle as governor in 
1742. Charles, fifth Lord Baltimore, died in 1750, leaving an 
only son, Frederick, who was the sixth and last Lord Baltimore. 

Samuel Ogle was again commissioned as governor in 1747, 
and remained in office until his death in 1751, when the govern- 
ment of the province devolved upon his father-in-law, Benjamin 
Tasker, president of the council, until the arrival of Horatio 
Sharpe, the new governor, on the 10th of August 1753. 

Among the many distinguished men of the province none 
was of better lineage than Samuel Ogle, twice governor of 
Maryland. The Ogles were of an ancient Saxon family whose 
lands were on the borders of Scotland. It is recorded on the 
monument of the Barons Ogle in the church and castle of 
Bothel in Northumberland that William the Conqueror gave to 
Humphrey Ogle the manor of Ogle to hold as free as he held 
the same before the conquest. Sir Robert Ogle, eighth in lineal 
descent from Humphrey, was granted the right ' to fortify his 
manor and create it into a castle, and to have free warren for it 
through all his domain.' 

Robert, by his marriage to the only daughter of Sir Robert 
Bertram of Bothel, became possessed of that barony and its 
vast domains. In the Border Wars the Ogles distinguished 
themselves. When Sir Robert Ogle was taken prisoner by the 
Scots he obtained a grant from King Henry iii. of one hundred 
marks towards his ransom, after which he served under John 
Plantagenet. One of his descendants, another Sir Robert, 
was sheriff of Northumberland in the reign of Henry v., and 
conducted James, King of Scotland, back to his realm when 



294 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 

released from captivity iu the reign of Henry vi. The Ogles 
of Maryland are descended from William Ogle, third son of 
Sir Robert, and brother to the first Lord Ogle, created Baron in 
164L Another Lord Ogle fought at Flodden. After the death 
of Cutlibert, the seventh Lord, as he had no son, the barony 
was carried a^^•ay by his only daughter, who was the wife of Sir 
Charles Cavendish and mother of the first Earl of Ogle. Samuel 
Ogle was a son of Conmiissioner Ogle, so called from his com- 
mission to Ireland by Queen Anne, and at the time of his 
appointment as governor by the proprietary on 16th Septen\ber 
1731 was a captain of cavalry in the British army. He was a 
man of large fortune, genial, hospitable, and a great lover of 
horses. His London house was in Saville Row, Bond Street, 
then a fashionable quarter. When he arrived in Maryland he 
found a kindred spirit in the Hon. Benjamin Tasker, one of the 
most important men in the province, who had a magnificent 
estate and lived in great style, driving four in hand with liveried 
outriders, as the legends of Aimapolis relate. 

Those were spacious days in old Maryland. Benjamin Tasker, 
whose wife was Anne Bladen, was the proud father of an only 
son and four lovely daughters, of whom Rebecca Mas the wife 
of Daniel Dulany, secretary of the province. Two of the sisters, 
Elizabeth and Frances, married respectively Christopher LoAvndes 
and Robert Carter of Virginia ; while Anne, the yoimgest, who 
was but a child of nine when Samuel Ogle arrived in the country, 
became his wife in 17-41. xA.lthough there was a great disparity 
in age, it was a very happy marriage.* 

In 17-42 Samuel Ogle took his lovely young bride to live in 
England. He was succeeded by her maternal uncle, Thomas 
Bladen, who had married a daughter of Sir Theodore Jansen 
of Low Layton, Essex. Her sister was the wife of Charles, fifth 
Lord Baltimore. It was Governor Bladen who commenced the 
erection of a magnificent Government House in Annapolis, which 

* Their portraits, painted by Hudson, are now in the possession of tlie 
Taj'loj:.family at Mairnt Airey, Moi ' ylww d. 



APPENDIX 295 

the legislature refused to complete. It remained unfinished 
for forty years, and then was presented by the state to St. John's 
College, formerly laiown as King William's. 

Samuel Ogle returned to Maryland as governor in 1747, the 
year that his wife's favourite cousin married the Earl of Essex. 
Lord Chesterfield, in one of his letters to his son, thus alludes 
to her : ' Our friend Harriet Bladen,^ with a fortune of £20,000, 
is to be married to the Earl of Essex.' 

During his first term of office Governor Ogle built a beautiful 
residence on the corner of King George and Tabernacle Street, 
which still remains one of the finest specimens of colonial archi- 
tecture in Annapolis. He had also in Prince George County 
a magnificent country estate (Bel Air) of three thousand six 
hundred acres, six hundred acres of which was a park enclosed 
for deer, and which also included a race track and kennels. 
Here he was enabled to enjoy his favourite pastime, racing, 
in which governors, councillors, and the first gentlemen of the 
province participated. 

Governor Ogle imported from England the celebrated horse 
Spark, a gift from Lord Baltimore, to whom the racehorse had 
been presented by Prince Frederick, the father of. George in. 

Samuel Ogle, at the time of his death in 1751, held the rank 
of lieutenant-general in the British army. 

^ Captain, afterwards Admiral Bladen Capel, who commanded the 
Culloden oi eighty guns off the coast of America dur hi g the war of 1812 
was Harriet Bladen's son. 



INDEX 



Aberorombie, Major - General 
James, 100, 103 ; his delays occa- 
sion loss of Oswego, 108, 110-11 ; 
appointed commander - in - chief, 
144, 150 ; incompetence of, 151 ; 
defeated at Ticonderoga, 150-3 ; 
superseded by Amherst, 154 ; 
mentioned, 149, 156, 163. 

Acadia, 73, 84. 

Acadians, the, history of, 83-4 ; 
refuse oath of allegiance to Britain, 
84, 85 ; accused of hampering the 
EngHsh, 85 ; Cornwallis demands 
unconditional oath from, 85 ; 
priestly influence on, 86 ; Lieut. - 
Governor Lawrence's determination 
regarding, 86 ; capture of Beaii 
S6jour and discovery of 300 under 
arras, 86 ; banishment of, 86-90; ra- 
pacious treatment of, by Canadians, 

89 ; condition of, in Maryland, 85- 

90 ; influence of Mr. Callister for, 
89-90 ; dispersed in different parts 
of the pi-ovinces, 90-3 ; present- 
day Acadians, 91 ; Longfellow's 
' Evangeline,' 92, 93. 

Adams, John, 271. 

Addison, Rev. Henry, 178, 239. 

Col. John, 9, 279. 

Joseph, 9. 

Launcelot (Dean of Lichfield), 

9, 279. 

Mary Grafton, 279. 

Thomas, 9. 

Albany, Congress of, 18. 
Algonquin family (Indians), 37-8 n. 
Allen, Bennett, 178, 206, 234-9. 

Ethan, 270. 

American Church, 233-4. 

indignation at Revenue Act, 



241-2 ; attitude regarding inde- 
pendence, 241-2, 255, 266. 

American Revolution, 246-7, 252 et 
fteq., 269 et seq. ; causes deprecia- 
tion of the paper currency, 269 ; 
independence declared, 246, 270, 
271. 

Amherst, Colonel (Jeflfrey, Lord 
Amherst), commands expedition 
against Louisbourg, 144, 149, 
154; captures Louisbourg, 153-4; 
supersedes Abercrombie, 154, 160; 
instructions from Pitt to, 162-3, 
165 ; work and operations, 163 ; 
plan of campaign of 1759, 166, 
168 ; captures Ticonderoga, 167, 
168 ; proposes to build fort at 
Crown Point, 168 ; strengthens 
English position on Lake Cham- 
plain, 168 ; plan for re-establish- 
ment of Fort Oswego, 168 ; and 
capture of Fort Niagara, 168-70; 
plans for conquest of Canada, 182 ; 
passage down the St. Lawrence, 

183 ; capitulation of Montreal to, 

184 ; rewards and honoui's, 184, 
186; death, 187; Sir Joshua 
Reynolds's portrait of, 184, 187; 
mentioned, 171, 179, 181, 202. 

Wm. Pitt, 187. 

Anderson, Miss, 277, 280. 

Mrs., 250, 280. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 291. 

Annapolis (Maryland) in 1753, 4, 5 ; 
history of name, 4, 291 ; curious 
plan in laying out the cit}', 5 ; life 
in, 6-7, 12, 39, 247-8, 249 ; 
Government House, 11 ; news of 
Braddock's defeat in, 57 ; state of 
terror in, by reason of Indian 
297 



298 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



ravages, 72, 98 ; dissatisfaction 
with Loudoun in, 140 ; news of 
fall of Quebec received in, 176 ; 
Inuldings and workmen in, 188, 
294, 295 ; the burning of the 
Peggy Stewart, 253-5 ; and British 
Loyalists in the Revolution, 268 ; 
of to-day, 280. 

Annapolis (in Nova Scotia), 84. 

Anne Arundel town. See Annapolis 
(Maryland). 

Anne, Princess of Denmark, 4. 

Anstruther, Col., regiment mentioned, 
144, 173, 174. 

Armstrong, Capt., 129, 135. 

Arnold, Benedict, 270, 271, 272. 

Arundaeks (Indians), 16. 

Aubrey (French commander), 170. 

Baltimore, Lord. See under Calvert. 
Baltimore Neivs, cited, 255. 
Baptists, 178. 
Barnes, Abraham, 18. 
Barton, Col., 59. 
Beall, Capt., 73, 124, 129, 132. 
Beaujeu (French commander), 55. 
Beau S6jour, Fort, 36 ; capture of, 

55 and n., 57, 86. 
Berkeley, Sir William, 286. 
Bigot, the intendant, 123. 
Birnie, Major Rogers, 3. 
Bladen, Anne, 8, 294. 

Harriet, 295. 

Nathaniel, 8. 

Rebecca, 294. 

Thomas, 8, 9, 293, 294. 

William, 8. 

Blaikiston, Nathaniel, 291. 
Boish6bert, 87. 
Bolingbroke, Lord, 261 n. 
Bordley, John, 250. 

John Beale, 188, 250 n., 259. 

Stephen, 203. 

Boscawen, Admiral, 50, 51, 53, 55, 

57, 73, 74, 144, 153, 179. 
Boston, the cargo of tea, 252, 266. 
Boston Gazette, quoted, 254. 
Boston Port Bill, 252, 253, 258. 
Boswell's Life of Johnson, quoted, 

114. 



Boucher, Rev. Jonathan, 178, 233, 

239-40, 247. 
Bouquet, Lieut. -Col. Henry, 202 n. ; 
defeats Indians at Bushy Run and 
relieves Fort Pitt, 202 ; proceeds 
against Shawanese and Delawares, 
202; mentioned, 117, 143, 146, 
147, 159. 

Braddock, Major-General, departure 
for America, 28 ; arrival, 34, 35, 
37, 50 ; his task, 36, 46-7 ; 
arranges meeting of governors, 38- 
9 ; indignation of, at Assemblies' 
refusal to grant supplies, 42 ; 
plan of campaign, 45-7 ; arbitrary' 
recruiting of indented servants 
by, 45-6 ; miscalculates difficul- 
ties of the campaign, 47-8 ; last 
conversation with Franklin, 48 ; 
French arrangements to oppose, 
49 ; progress of, 50-2, 54, 55 ; 
approach of, signalled at Fort 
Duquesne, 55 ; ambuscaded at the 
Monongahela, 55, 58, 61 ; defeat, 
55-62 passim ; final oi'ders, 61 ; 
death, 58, 61; losses, 60, 62; 
loss of officers, 58, 60 ; incursions 
by French and Indians after defeat, 
62-3, 201 ; mentioned, 40, 68, 70, 
71, 76, 78, 95, 159, 197; charac- 
teristics of, 147. 

Bradley, Dr., 204. 

Bradstreet, Lieut. -Col. John, warns 
Sliarpe as to movements of French 
to oppose Braddock, 49 ; boatmen 
enlisted and placed under his 
command by Shirlej', 102 ; ex- 
pedition to Oswego, 102, 110; 
engagement with Coulon de 
Villiers, 110; returns to Albany, 
110; in Abercrombie's expedition, 
150, 153; takes Fort Frontenac, 
156 ; serves under Amherst, 183 ; 
mentioned, 202. 

Brandywine, battle, 272. 

Broadway, Joseph, 41 n. 

Brodie, Count, 68. 

Brown, Wm. Hand, cited on 
character of Lord Baltimore, 205. 

Browning, Louisa, 246. 



INDEX 



299 



Browning, Mr., 2G2-4, 2G5. 

Buchanan, Chief-Justice, 280. 

Buffalo River Fort, 26. 

Bunker's Hill, 257. 

Burgoyne, General, 61, 269, 272. 

Burke, Edmund, 219, 223, 242 

and n. 
Bushy Run, battle, 202. 
Bute, Earl of, 197, 207. 
Byng, Admiral John, shot, 115. 

Calltster assists the Acadians, 
89-91. 

Calvfert, Benedict, 293. 

Benedict Leonard (4th Lord 

Baltimore), 291, 292. 

Cecil, 290. 

Caicilius (2nd Lord Balti- 
more), founds Maryland, carries 
out the plans of his father, 283 ; 
conditions of the charter, 283-4, 
285 ; differences with the Assembly, 
285 ; possession of Maryland 
rendered insecure by Royalist re- 
verses in England, 286 ; measures 
to save the province, 287 ; de- 
posed by Charles ii., 288 ; diffi- 
culties during Great Civil War, 
287-9 ; deprived by Cromwell's 
commissioners, 290 ; conciliated 
by Cromwell, 290; death, 290; 
mentioned, 43. 

Csecilius, Lord Baltimore's 

uncle and secretary, 1 1 ; character 
of his letters, 50, 144, 197, 213 ; 
interview with George iii., 197 ; 
opinion of Sharpe, 197 ; scheme 
for management of the House of 
Assembly, 198 ; on Ridout's 
advancement, 192; death, 213; 
mentioned, 189, 191 et passim. 

Charles (3rd Lord Baltimore), 

291. 

Charles (5th Lord Baltimore), 

246, 292, 293. 

Charles, Captain, 292. 

Edward, 293. 

Frederick (6th Lord Balti- 
more), 293 ; birthday celebration 
in Annapolis, 12 ; designation as 



proprietary of Maryland, 23 ; sends 
a commission to Sharpe, 23 ; re- 
commendation to people as to 
defence, 24 ; contention of the 
Assembly as to taxation of his 
estates, 42 ; Maryland regarded.by, 
merely as a source of revenue, 43 ; 
roused to a sense of the dangers to 
Maryland, 115 ; sends ammunition 
to Maryland, 141 ; and ecclesiastical 
patronage in Maryland, 176, 178 
and 71. ; contribution by, for de- 
fence of province against Indians, 
200-1 ; and the boundary dispute, 
203 ; concern for Sharpe's health, 
203 ; presents his poi'trait to the 
Executive Chamber, 205 ; sends 
box of plate to Sharpe, 205 ; 
presents Assembly's letter to the 
King on repeal of the Stamp Act, 
226-7 ; views as to the Assembly, 
227-8 ; and the ' Liberty Lottery,' 
228 ; sells his manors and tracts 
of land, 228 ; letter dismissing 
Sharpe and appointing Robert 
Eden, 243 ; dies at Naples, 246 ; 
his executors, 246 ; rival claims 
for the succession, 246, 263-4 ; 
character of, 205-6 ; hostility to, 
205-6; mentioned, 11, 13, 17, 
158, 276. 
Calvert, George ( 1 st Lord Baltimore), 
founds colony in S. -E. Newfoimd- 
land, 282 ; created Baron of 
Baltimore, 282 ; troubles with 
the French and abandonment of 
Newfoundland, 282 ; proceeds to 
Virginia and seeks patent from 
the King, 282 ; misfortxmes and 
death, 282. 

Leonard, 284-7 passim. 

Philip, 290. 

Camden, Lord, 220. 

Campbell, John. See Loudoun, Earl 

of. 
Canada Bill, the, 252, 253. 
Cape Breton Island, 84, 85, 86, 154. 
Capel, Admiral Bladen, 295. 
Carillon. See Ticonderoga. 
Carleton, Sir Guy, 271. 



300 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



Carolina, North, 17 ; Governor of, 25. 

Carroll, Charles, 9, 278 ; fsLxnily, 
259. 

of Carrollton, 9, 247, 248. 

Carter, Robert, 294. 

Cataraqui, 38, 77, 79 ; and ste 
Frontenac. 

Catawba (Indians), 16. 

Catholics, Roman, in Maryland, 89, 
111, 178, 283, 286, 287, 292: and 
the Quebec Bill, 252. 

Cayugas (Indians), 38 n. 

Champlain, Lake, 80, 102, 149, 168, 
183. 

Chandler, Dr., quoted, 177, 178. 

Chase, Samuel, 253, 255, 278, 281 n. 

Cherokees, the, prevailed upoii by 
Dinwiddle to make war on the 
French, 16, 94 ; under Wahachy 
ofifer services to Sharpe, 124 ef 
seq. ; Ridout and Wolstenholme 
sent as ambassadors to, 124, 126- 
35. 

Chew, Samuel, 236. 

Chippeways (Indians), 16. 

Cliurch Li\ings, 176-9 ; deplorable 
state of the Church in Maryland, 
establishment of Episcopacy urged, 
178. 

Civil War in England, 286 tt seq. 

Claibourne, ,284, 285,286, 287, 

290. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, 269, 272-4. 

Cockayne, Mr., 204. 

Colonies, the, as training schools for 
military service, 63. 

Colville, Lord, 137, 213. 

Combe's Fort, 98. 

Contrecoeur, 19, 55. 

Convict ships, 230. 

Conway, General, 211, 212, 224. 

Copley, Sir Lionel, 291. 

Corn Stalk (Indian), 264. 

Cornwallis, Lord, 85, 95, 271, 274-5. 

Coxen, Captain Nicholas, 1, 2. 

Craven, Major Charles, 78. 

Cresap, Daniel and Thomas, expedi- 
tion against Indians, 98. 

Crown Point, 36, 68, "3, 80, 109, 
162, 168, 270, 271. 



Cumberland, Duke of, 197. 

Fort (Wills Creek), 27, 34, 46, 

55, 60, 71, 99, 125, 132, 136, 139, 
146, 154, 158 ; alarm and con- 
fusion at, 60 ; measures for de- 
fence, 62. 

Custis, Mrs. M., 143. 

John Parke, 248. 

family, 278. 



Dag WORTHY, Captain, 71, 72, 146. 

Dartmouth, Lord, 256, 261. 

Davenant, Sir Wra., 288 and n. 

de Bougainville, 183. 

de Grasse, Count, 274. 

de Guise, Duke, 185 and ?i. 

de Jumon\-ille, Coulon, 19-20, 22. 

de la Galissoniere, Marquis, 1 3. 

de la Jonquiere, Marquis, 13. 

De Lancey, Hon. James, Lieut. -Gov. of 
New York, 39, 40, 75, 142, 162. 

Delaware, State, 274. 

Dela wares (Indians), 62, 127, 159, 
202. 

de L6^•is, Chevalier, 101, 106, 120 ; 
his zeal in preparation for descent 
on Quebec, 180; battle of Sainte 
Foy, 180 ; campaign against 
Murray in Quebec, 180-2 ; at 
capitulation of Montreal, 184 ; 
subsequent career, 185. 

Denmark, Queen of, 263. 

Denny, Governor of Pennsylvania, 
105 ; message to the Cherokees, 
130, 135; submits to taxation of 
proprietary's estate, 166 ; men- 
tioned, 119, 127. 

Densmure, Lord, 266. 

de Saint Pierre, Legardeur, 14. 

de Vaudreuil, Marquis, Governor of 
Canada, 68, 107, 118, 123, 169, 
180, 181, 184. 

de Villiers, Coulon, 19-21, 102. 

Dickinson, John, 241 ; Pennsylvania 
Farmer's Letters, by, 241. 

Dieskau, Baron, 68-70, 101, 120. 

Dinwiddie, Governor of Virginia, 1 4 ; 
efforts of, to defend English trading 
posts, 14-17, 19 ; difficulties with 



INDEX 



301 



his Assembly, 17 ; urges estab- 
lishment of two confederacies, 18 ; 
on Washington's failure at Fort 
Necessity, 20-2 ; and the Vir- 
ginian forces for defence, 32 ; 
receives from Innes news of 
Braddock's defeat, 56 ; appoints 
Washington to command at Fort 
Cumberland, 72 ; negotiations, 
etc., with Cherokces, 94, 125, 130, 
131; leaves for England, 140; 
mentioned, 19, 24, 25, 27, 35, 
38, 39, 40, 52, 53, 95. 

Dixon, Jeremiah, 204-5. 

Dobbs, Governor of North Carolina, 
25. 

Douglas, Capt. James, 1 72. 

Drucour (Fi'ench commandant), 
capitulates at Louisbourg, 153. 

du Gurne, Fort, 22. 

Dulany, Daniel, 8. 

(jun.), 9, 294 ; his pam- 
phlet on the Stamp Act, 9, 209, 
220 ; Bennett Allen's enmity for, 
236, 238, 239 ; mentioned, 203, 
239. 

Lloyd, 239. 

Dunbar, Col., 29, 54, 58, 59, 78 ; 
his retreat after Braddock's defeat, 
60-2, 67. 

Dunmore, Lord, 256. 

Duquesne de Menneville, Marquis, 
14, 19. 

Fort, 19, 25, 36, 45, 68, 73, 

80, 103, 145, 147, 155-60 
passim ; capture of, 161. 



Eddis, Wm., 248, 252, 253, 255, 

257. 
Eden, Robert, succeeds Sharpe as 

Lieut. -Gov. of Maryland, 194, 

242-3, 246, 248-9, 255, 261, 

262-3, 276. 

(brother), 261, 263, 264. 

Edmundson, Mr., 237. 

Edward, Fort, 73, 87, 120, 121 ;amZ 

see Lyman. 
Egerton, Lady Diana, 246. 
Egremont, Earl of, 207. 



England and France, boundary of 
American possessions unsettled, 
1 5 ; domains of, in North America 
contrasted, 123 ; condition of 
armies of, after capture of Quebec, 
180. 

England, English attempts to secure 
co-operation of the colonies against 
the French, 1 8 ; and alliances with 
the Indians, 18, 33, 124, 159; 
give bounty for scalps, 124, 
126, 128; regulations as to 
Crown and provincial troops, 
27, 106, 117, 146-7; measures 
for defence of the Dominions, 
28-9 ; naval force in North America, 
74 ; wane of prestige, effect of 
Braddock's defeat, 75 ; declara- 
tion of war with France (1756), 
100 ; awaking to importance of de- 
fence of the colonies, 112; colonial 
forces increased after Loudoun's 
unsuccessful campaign, 115 ; Pitt's 
dismissal, confusion of political 
affairs, 118; the king's instruc- 
tions to Maryland, Virginia, and 
Pennsylvania, 165 ; critical posi- 
tion of, in Quebec, 181 ; death 
of George ii., 195 ; accession of 
George iii., 195 ; marriage of 
George iii. and the Queen's 
coronation, 196 ; new Cabinet in 
England, 207 ; and the American 
Revolution, 256 et seq., 270 et seq- 
Episcopacy in Scotland, a story of, 

I 233. 

I Episcopate, American, question of 
establishment of, 178, 232-4. 
Essex, Lord, 261. 

I Lady, 261 ?!., 280, 295. 

Europe, situation in (Seven Years' 

I War), 115, 196. 



Fairfax, Sir William, 8. 
Fendall, Josias, 290. 
Fisher, Richard D., letter to Balti- 
more News, cited, 255. 
Fitch, Thos., 77. 
Fitzhugh, Col. Wm., 24, 27. 



302 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



Five Nations, the, 38 n., 159, 169. 
See Six Nations. 

Forbes, Brigadier-General, 147 ; 
expedition against Fort Du- 
quesne, 145-7, 158-60; his forces, 
146, 147 ; ideas of, on troops, 
accoutrements, uniforms, etc. , 
147-8 ; on the obstruction by the 
Assemblies, 148 ; on the capture 
of Louisboui'g, 155 ; decides not to 
follow Braddock's road, 157, 159 ; 
illness, 157, 158 ; arrangements 
as to Fort Cumberland, 158 ; 
complains of St. Clair, 158 ; re- 
pulse of Grant's detachment, 
159 ; occupies Fort Duquesne, 
161 ; taken to Phihidelphia, 161 ; 
death, 164; mentioned, 141, 149, 
156. 

Fox, Henry, 95, 106, 112, 275. 

— — Stephen, 10 n. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 1 8 and n., 19; 
meeting with Washington, 45 ; 
resourcefulness of, 45 ; last con- 
versation with Braddock, 47 ; 
Aritohiography quoted, 104, 119 ; 
mentioned, 245, 271, 272. 

Frederick the Great, 115-16, 179, 
271, 272. 

Fort, 99, 126, 131, 132, 136, 

157. 

French, the, aggression by, on the 
Ohio, 13-15, 49 ; claims as to 
territory, 15, 123 ; occupy English 
fort, 19 ; capture Fort Necessity, 
20-2 ; strong position of, in North 
America, 26, 36, 38, 101 ; princi- 
pal forts held by, 36 ; importance 
of Lake Ontario to, 77-9 2MSsini ; 
descent on Oswego, 106-7 ; secm-e 
Lake Ontario, 108 ; strength at 
Crown Point, 112; reinforce 
Louisbourg against Loudoun, 118; 
abandon forts on Lake Erie and 
on the Ohio, 170, 176 ; finances 
depleted, 180 ; and Acadia, 64, 
84: et seq. ; alliances with Indians, 
16, 26, 124, 159; declaration to 
Indians, 49 ; method of ensuring 
ullegiance of Indians, 123 ; with- 



di'aw ambassador from London, 
55 ; attempt invasion of Ireland, 
51 ; aid Colonies during the 
American Revolution, 272-4. 

French Neutrals. See Acadians. 

Frontenac, Fort, 36, 73, 79, 103, 
106, 107, 108, 156-7, 160; and 
see Cataraqui. 

Fry, Col. Joseph, 19. 

Gage, Thomas, General, 61, 202, 

213, 252, 256, 270. 
Garth, Mr., 226. 
Gaspereau, Fort, 55 n. 
Gates, Horatio, 61, 274. 
George, Fort, 163. 
— Lake, 68, 149. 
German emigrants in Maryland, 96. 

Lutherans, 178. 

Gibson, Mr., 280. 

Gold, Lieut., 59. 

Goldsborough, Col. William, 191 ; 

family, 259. 

Rachel, 280. 

Robert, 253. 

Grafton, Duke of, 211, 215, 224, 

229. 
Grant, Major, 159-60. 
Greenbury, Col. Nicholas, 291. 
Greene, Thomas, 288. 
Gremalle, George, 197, 207, 211. 

Haldimand, Col., 141-3, 168-9. 

Hale, Col. John, 172. 

Halifax (N. S. ), founded by Cornwallis, 

85. 

Lord, 106, 207. 

Halkett, Sir Peter, 29, 59. 
Hamersley, Hugh, Secretary to Sixth 

Lord Baltimore, 213, 215, 228, 

234, 243, 246, 260, 264, 265 ei 

passim. 
Hammond, Mr., 210. 
Hanbury, John, 13. 
Hancock town, 99. 

Handfield, , 87. 

Hardy, Sir Chas., 71, 75, 77, 94, 
Harford, Robert. See Hertford. 
Harris, Rev. Matthew, 2. 
Harrison, Ensign, 168. 



INDEX 



303 



Hart, Capt. John, 292. 
Harvey, Sir John, 284. 
Haviland, Brigadier, 182, 184. 
Hawke, Admiral, 51, 179. 
Hendricks (Indian chief), 69. 
Henry, Col., 266. 
Herrick, Capt., 260. 
Hertford, Robert, 246, 263, 276 

and n. 
Hesselius's portrait of Sharpe, 245. 
Hillsborough, Lord, 242. 
Holboume, Admiral, 116, 118, 119. 
Holdemesse, Earl of, 18. 
Holmes, Admiral, 173. 
Hood, Zachariah, 209-14 ;>assm. 

Hopson, , 85. 

Howe. Colonel, 173. 

Lord, Admiral, 270-1. 

Lord, Brigadier-General, 151, 

270 71. 

Sir William, 269, 2703 passwi. 

Hozier's Armorial General of (he 

French Nobility, 10. 
Himter, Capt., 277, 278. 
Hutchins' Visitation of Somerset, 

10 n. 

Ilchestek, Eakl of, 10 n. 

Indentured persons, custom as to, 
8. 

Independent Companies, the, 27, 
62. 

Indians, the, and early colonists in 
Maryland, 284; engaged by French 
against English, 16; French efforts 
to secure assistance of, 49 ; Din- 
widdie prevails on, to fight the 
French, 16 ; receive presents for 
assistance, 17, 32, 49, 157 ; Eng- 
lish Government gives bounty to, 
for scalps, 124 ; conciliation of, by 
English, 33, 124, 159; importance 
of wampum in dealings with, 33 ; 
as allies of English and of French, 
124 ; raids and incursions by, 33, 
52, 53, 71-3, 76, 97-8, 103, 200- 
1, 264 ; Annapolis entrenched 
against, 72-3 ; raids increase anti- 
Catholic feeling in Maryland, 89 ; 
terror in Marjdand by reason of. 



97-9 ; the Cresap-s' expedition 
against, 98 ; successful attack on, 
by Virginian planters, 103 ; effect 
of loss of Oswego on, 109, 124 ; 
massacre of prisoners by, at Oswego, 
108 ; massacre by, at Fort William 
Henry, 121 ; kept in allegiance 
by military centres, 123 ; conven- 
tion with, at Earton, Penn., 159; 
Bouquet's campaign against, 202 ; 
battle of Bushy Run, 202 ; John- 
son's treaty with, 202 ; renounce 
allegiance to France, 167; a speci- 
men of diplomacy by, 124 ; con- 
spiracy of Pontiac, 200 ; Indian 
traders buy up powder and lead, 
201. See also Five Nations, Six 
Nations, aivl uivder Tribal names. 

Ingle, Capt. Richard, 285-6. 

Innes, Colonel, 47, 55-7, 62, 71- 

Innis, messenger, 119. 

Iroquois family, 37 n., 38 n. 

Isle aux Noix, 168, 183. 

Isle St. Jean, 154. 

Jacobites, 40-1 n., 289, 292. 

Jenifers, Major, 247, 248. 

Jersey Regiment, 101. 

•Jockey Club of Maryland, 8. 

Johnson, Col. (Sir Wm.), 45 : his 
ascendancy over Six Nations 
Indians, 45, 101 ; endeavours to 
win over Five Nations, 159 ; 
advance to Crown Point, 68 ; 
affair with Dieskau at Lake 
George, 68-70 ; honours for, 70- 
1 ; builds Fort William Henry, 
71 ; return to Albanj% 73 ; at the 
siege of Niagara, 169 ; submission 
of Pontiac to, 200 ; treaty with 
Indians, 202 ; mentioned, 49, 
100, 120. 

Dr., cited, 114. 

Jordan, :Mr., 206, 244. 

Gerard, 40 n. 

Kennedy's REGIMENT, 173. 
Keppel, Commander, 39, 40. 
Kingston (Ont.), 36 n. 
Kimieer, Major James, 78. 



304 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



Knowles, Governor of Louisbourg, 

85. 
Kosky Club, the, 247. 

La Galette, 79, 162. 

La Mothe, Admiral, 118. 

La Presentation, Fort, 36. 

Lascelks' Regiment, 173. 

Lawrence, Governor, 86, 87, 90. 

Sir Thomas, 4. 

Leblanc, Simon, 92. 

Lebceuf, Fort, 36. 

Lee, General (Mad Lee), 259. 

Miss, 264. 

Thomas, 1 3. 

William, 259. 

Legardeur de Saint Pierre, 14. 

Le Loiitre, missionary, vicar-genl. 
of Acadia, 86. 

Lewis, Colonel, 264. 

Lexington, battle of, 256, 257. 

Liberty Lottery, the, 228. 

Ligonier, General, 154. 

Lloyd, Colonel, 190, 247, 264. 

Locker, Frederick, 240. 

London Gazette, 70, 172. 

Longfellow, ' Evangeline,' cited, 92. 

Lotteries, the rage for, 265. 

Loudoun, Earl of, appointed titular 
governor of Virginia, 94 ; and 
commander-in-chief in succession 
to Shirley, 95, 100, 104, 106; 
arrival in New York, 106, 111 ; 
determination to find fault with 
Shirley's actions, 106, 109 ; 
changes plans, 106 ; order to 
provincial troops, 106 ; troops 
billeted on the inhabitants by, 
106 and «., 140 ; first disastrous 
campaign of, 108 ; sends Webb 
to reinforce Oswego, 108 ; orders 
Winslow back from Ticonderoga 
expedition, 108 ; cautions Sharpe 
as to defence of frontiers, 109 ; 
complains of condition and number 
of troops, 109 ; expedition against 
Louisboiu'g planned, 116-18 ; and 
abandoned, 119; fails to defend 
frontier posts, 120 ; loses Fort 
William Henry, 120-2 ; and the 



Maryland Assembl J', 136-8 pa«*wi 
preparations for his winter cam 
paign, 139 ; recalled, 143, 150 
superseded by Abercrombie, 144 
feeling in America, 144, 155 
relations with Abercrombie, 156 
Bradstreet's request to proceed 
against Frontenac refused by, 156 ; 
chai-acteristics, Franklin quoted, 
118, 119; mentioned, 103, 105, 
111, 164. 

Louisbom-g, 36,84; Shirley's plan for 
capture of, 64 ; capitulates to 
Pepperell and Warren, 65, 85 ; 
restored to France, 85 ; Loudoun's 
expedition planned and abandoned, 
116, 118, 119; new expedition 
under Amherst, 144, 149; siege 
and capitulation of, 153-5 ; men- 
tioned, 51, 54, 74. 

Grenadiers, 174. 

Louisiana, 25. 

Lowndes, Charles, 211. 

Christopher, 294. 

Lowther, , 98. 

Love, Capt., 189, 250, 261. 

Lyman, Fort, 68, 70, 93. See Fort 
Edward. 

Lynn, father and son, 97, 98. 

Magruder, Lieut. Samuel, 73. 

Maryland, founded bj' 2nd Lord 
Baltimoi'e, 283-4 ; charter of, 
283-4 ; the original emigrants, 
284 ; discontent in, 286 ; pro- 
prietary government overthrown, 
286 ; order restored, 287 ; the 
pro\nnce a palatinate, 287 ; 
attitude to Parliament on execu- 
tion of Charles i., 288 ; pro- 
prietary deposed by Charles ii., 
288 ; difficulties of proprietary 
during Great Civil War, 288-90 ; 
overthrow of Puritans in, 290 ; 
origin of boundary dispute with 
Pennsylvania, 291, 293 ; the royal 
governors, 291-2 ; restoration of 
proprietary rights in, 292 ; pro- 
test against importation of con- 
victs, 292. 



INDEX 



305 



Marj'lancl (con/d.) — 

Situation in, at time of Sharpe's 
arrival, I'i et seq., 43; views in, 
as to provincial troops, 23 ; re- 
cruiting in, 30, 31 ; complaints 
against Braddock in, 45 -(i ; state 
of the province in 1755, 52-3; 
after Braddock's defeat, 62-3, 
71-2; in 1750, 103; interest in 
English V. French struggle, 171 ; 
proclamation of King CJeorge ill. 
in, 195 ; boundaiy dispute and 
snrvej'^, 203-5 ; position of, during 
tlie Revolution, 255, 257, 267, 
274 ; British Loyalists in, 267-8. 
See also Annapolis, Calvert, 
Indians, Sharpe. 

Church livings in, 176 et seq. 
Jacobite sentiments in, 40-1 n. 
Proprietary. See above and 
also undey Calvert. 

Population of (in 1635), 285; 
in 1715, 292. 

Religious freedom in, 283, 287, 
290-2." 

Assembly, attitude of, to de- 
fence of province, 16-18; delegates 
to Congress of Albany, 18 ; con- 
tention as to taxation of pro- 
prietary's lands, 42-4 ; origin of 
struggle with the proprietary, 
285 ; refusal to grant supplies, 
31, 42, 50-4 jMSsim, 76, 136-7, 
148, 157, 163, 165; defence pro- 
posals by, \36-d 2)assi7n; Loudoun's 
letter of pi'otest, 136-9; consti- 
tution of, 198-9, 227-8,285, 287; 
Calvert's scheme for management 
of the Lower House, 198-9 ; the 
' Liberty Lottery,' 228 ; and re- 
peal of the Stamp Act, 225-7. 

Co. troops, 32, 157, 163, 164. 

Maryland Gazette, 1, 6, 11-12, 24, 
34-5, 39, 40,51, 60, 61,62, 73, 75, 
83,97, 99, 171, 176, 201, 208, 231. 

Mason, Charles, 205. 

Massachusetts, Assembly's embargo 
on pi'ovisions and warlike stores, 
51 ; troops capture Beau S^jour, 
55 ; a bill for regulation of the 



Government of Massachusetts Bay, 
252 ; charter of, 256, 258, 266. 

Matson, Ralph, 97. 

Maxwell, , 114. 

Mercer, Col., 77, 107-8, 213. 

Methodists, 178. 

Micmacs, the, 86. 

Militia law, 63. 

Milton, 289. 

Misilimakinak, 79, 80. 

Mississippi, French, settlements, 36, 
79. 

Moccosons, tlic, 133. 

Mohawks, the, 38 n., 68. 

Monckton, Col., 55, 73, 86, 172, 
173, 180, 184; duel M-ith Win- 
slow, 91-2. 

Monongahela, 13, 19, 25, 146. 

Montcalm, arrival in Canada, 101 ; 
descent on Fort Oswego, 106, 107; 
joins Rigaud, 107 ; captures 
Oswego, 124 ; endeavours to stay 
massacre by Indians, 108, 121 ; 
attack on the frontiers by, 119; 
concentrates at Ticonderoga, 120 ; 
captures Fort William Henrj', 
120 ; defeats Abercrombie at 
Ticonderoga, 150-3; defence of 
Quebec, 170, 174 ; death, 175; 
mentioned, 89, 149. 

Montgomery, Col., 141, 147, 157, 
160, 270. 

Montreal, capitulation of, and sur- 
render of Canada, 184, 195. 

Moravian settlements, 76. I 

Morris, Governor, of Pennsjuvania, 
17 «., 39, 40, 71, 103 ; resignation 
of, 105 ; views of, as to loss of 
Oswego, 110. 

Capt. Roger, 39, 58, 72. 

Robei't, 254 ; of Lincoln's Inn, 

246. 

Mowbray, Mr., 210-11. 

Munier, Joseph, 92. 

Munroe, Lt.-Col., 120-1. 

Murdock, John, 2. 

Murray, Col., 87, 88, 173, 174; in 
command at Quebec, 180-5 passim; 
Govi". -General of Quebec, 185-6. 

Myers, John, 97. 



U 



306 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



Negro slaves, 7 ; and convicts, 231. 

Neutrals. See Acadians. 

Newcastle, Duke of, 65, 6G, 85. 

New Englanders, 64, 65 n. 

New France, 123. 

New York (1755), 75, 76 ; Council 

of War in, 77 c^ seq. ; Governor 

of, burnt in effigy, 214. 
Niagara, Fort, 30, 07, 68, 79, 100, 

108, 163 ; capitulation of, 170; 

effect of capture of, 176. 
Niaourii Bay (Sackett's Harbour), 

107. 
Nicholson, Gov. Thomas, 4, 291. 
Nollv, Thomas, 290. 
North, Lord, 229, 261, 266, 273, 

275. 

Ogdensburg, 36 n. 

Ogle, Samuel, Gov., 6, 79, 193, 280 ; 

family historj^ 293-5. 
Mrs., 193, 250, 200, 261, 203, 

277, 280, 281. 

Benjamin (son), 10, 280. 

Leliora. See Mrs. Anderson. 

Mary (daughter), 10, 193, 194, 

268, 270, 280. 
Ohio Companj-, 1 3. 
the, La Belle Riviere, 22 n. ; 

English claims on, 10, 17, 105. 
Oneidas, the, 38 n. 
Onondagoes, the, 38 n., 78. 
Ontario, Fort, 107. 

Lake, 07, 77, 78, 162. 

Orme, Capt. Robert, 39, 40, 54, 57, 

59. 
Osborne, Sir Danvers, 75. 
Oswego, Fort, 38, 53, 67, 78, 103, 

107, 156 ; captured bj' French, 

106-9 ; Gov. Morris on causes of 

the loss of, 110-11. 
Ottawa j's, the, 16. 
Otway's regiment, 174. 

Pace, William, 253. 

Palatine, explanation of the terra, 
287. 

Palatines (German and Swiss Protes- 
tants), 96, 



Parkman, cited, 59, 168, 200; quoted, 
70. 

Patuscents, 285. 

Peace of — 

Aix-la-Chapelle, 14, 65 ?!., 85. 
Paris, 200. 
Ryswick, 84. 
Utrecht, 84. 

Pearis, Capt., 128, 130. 

Penman of the Revolution, the, 241. 

Penn, Thomas and Richard, 203. 

William, 291. 

Pennsylvania, and French encroach- 
ments, 17 ; Assembly's refusal to 
grant supplies, 31, 42, 105, 216 ; 
question of taxing the proprietary's 
estate, 42 ; Gov. Morris resigns, 
105 ; Gov. Denny appointed, 105 ; 
borders laid waste by the enemy, 

62 ; absence of a good militia law, 

63 ; news of the fall of Louis- 
bourg in, 155 ; boundarj' dispute 
with Maryland, 203-5, 2*^91, 293 ; 
Gov. Denny submits to demands of 
Assembly, 166 ; troops augmented, 
166 ; confidence restored in, 176 ; 
mentioned, 132, 257, 266. 

Pennf^yh^inia Farmer's Letters, 241. 

Pepperell, Sir W., 29, 65 ; captures 
Louisbourg and Cape Breton, 65, 
85 ; his regiment, 65, 77, 85. 

Philadelphia, 57, 253, 270, 271. 

Phillips, General, 85. 

Pitt, Wm., appointed Secretary of 
State, 112; dismissed for eleven 
weeks, 118 ; his thorough under- 
standing of affairs in America, 1 62 ; 
popularity of, after fall of Quebec, 
176; resignation of , 196; and the 
Stamp Act, 207, 217-18, 220, 225 ; 
made Earl of Chatham, 225 ; 
return to office, 229 ; mentioned, 
115, 150, 154, 171, 172. 

Fort, relieved by Bouquet, 

201-2. 

Pittsburg, 170. 

Plater, Attorney-General, 8. 

Pont ;\ Buot, 55 ?i. 

Pontiac, conspiracy of, 200. 

Port Royal (Annapolis), 84, 



INDEX 



307 



Potomac River, 36, 09. 

Pouchot (French commandant), 1C9. 

Pownall, Thomas, 105. 

Preble, Major, 87. 

Presbj'terians, 178. 

Presqu'ile, Fort, 36, 79, 170. 

Prideaux, General, 168-9. 

Prince Edward Island, 154. 

Princeton, affairs at, 271. 

Provincial troops, 27, 106, 117, 

144, 146-7. 
Provost, Peter, 246. 
Prudhomme, Fort, 36. 
Prussia, King of, 115, 179, 271, 272. 
Puritan Revolution, 283. 
Putnam, Israel, 150. 



Quakers, 141, 178, 283. 

Quebec, 36, 74, 162; siege of, 3, 
171 ; capture of, 172 et seq. : 
nearly falls again into French 
hands, 181-2. 

Bill, the, 252. 



Rascal, Fort, 107. 

Rattlesnakes as medicine, 190. 

Redemptioners, 8. 

Revenue Act, the, 229 ; indignation 
in America, 241-2 ; the tax on 
tea, 242 ; unpopular in England, 
242 ; Colonies non-importation 
agi'eement, 242. 

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, portrait of 
Orme, 59 ; portrait of Amherst, 
184, 187. 

Thomas and William, 231. 

Richmond, Duke of, 224. 

Ridgely, Col. Henry, 73. 

Ridout family, note on the. 10 ;/. 

Hon. John, secretary to Gov. 

Sharpe, 2 and •«., 3-4 ; parent- 
age and family, 10 n., 194; sent 
as ambassador to meet the 
Cherokees, 124 et seq. ; meeting 
with Amherst, 164 ; draws up 
note on Revenue Laws, 167, 
191-2 ; made member of the 
King's Council, 192 ; and Com- 



missary-General to Lord Baltimore, 
193 ; jealousy excited by his 
appointments, 192-3; Sharpe's 
friendship for, 190-4, 261, 279; 
engagement and marriage, 193, 
194; appointed a commissioner on 
the boundary survey, 203 ; col- 
lector of customs, 261 ; Sharpe's 
estate left to his management, 25 1 , 
262, 264, 268, 278 ; Loyalist in 
the Revolution, 255, 267-8 ; plans 
to visit England, 260, 267, 279 ; 
buys land on the Potomac, 259 ; 
hard times, 269 ; death, 279 ; 
mentioned, 59, 142, 245, 253, 
261, 279, 280-1. 

Mrs. John inde Mary Ogle), 

10, 193, 194, 268, 270, 280. 

Amie Tasker (daughter), 280. 

Hester Chase, 28 1 . 

Horatio (son), 269, 276, 280. 

— — Mary (sister), 245. 

Samuel (son), 250, 260, 265, 

268, 269, 277, 279, 280. 

Thomas (brother), 253, 254 n., 

277. 

Dr. W. G., 2, 279. 

Rigaud, 107. 

River a Bceuf, 80. 

Robin, AbbcS quoted, 249. 

Robinson, Sir Thomas, 25, 28, 32, 
35, 37, 63, 70, 95. 

Rockingham, Marquis of, 197, 211, 
229. 

Rogers' Rangers, 150, 183. 

Rollo, Lord, 182. 

Roman Catholics in Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, 111-12, 178, 283, 
286, 287, 292 ; anti-Catholic feel- 
ing excited by Indian ravages, 89 ; 
the Quebec Bill, 252. 

Rose, Dr. A., Bishop of Edinburgh, 
233. 

Ross, Elizabeth, 3. 

J., 2, 125, 129, 130, 164. 

Rouill6, Fort, 79 n. 

Ro5^al American Regiment, 109, 117, 
150. 

Russell, Ensign, 59. 

Rutherford, Major John, 78. 



308 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



St. Clair, Sir John, 33-7, 46, 65, 
76, 78, 101-2, 110, 138, 141, 145, 
155, 158 ; wounded in Braddock's 
disaster, 59, 117. 

St. Luc de la Corne, 169. 

St. Sacrement, Lake, 68. 

Sainte Toy, battle, 180. 

Saratoga, 61, 272. 

Sawyer, Thomas, 231. 

Scharf's History ofMurijhmd, quoted, 
178 n., 284. 

Schuyler, Philip, 150. 

Schwerin, Marshal, ] 1 6. 

Scots exiles, 41 ?(.., 289, 292. 

Scott, Dr. Upton, 2, 3, 260, 261, 
263, 265, 277, 278. 

Colonel, 86. 

Seabury, S. (Bishop), 233-4. 

Senecas, the, 38?!. 

Senex, the map maker, 204. 

Senezergues, Brigadier, 175. 

Servants, the planters' wealth con- 
sisted in, 46. 

runaways, 41 ». 

Seven Years' War, 115. 

Seymour, John, 291. 

' Shades of Death,' the, 46. 

Sharpe, Horatio, Governor of Mary- 
land, birtli, 2 ; family connections, 
2, 114; his commission in the 
marines and in the army, 2 and 
11., 3, 13 ; arrival in Annapolis, 
1, 2, 293 ; reasons for his appoint- 
ment, 1 3 ; difficulties with liis 
Assembly, 17, 31, 42, 44, 52-3, 
54, 136-7, 139-40, 148, 159, 163, 
164, 165, 242 ; views of, on 
Washington's capitulation at Fort 
Necessity, 20, 22 ; receives com- 
mission as Lieut. -Col. from Lord 
Baltimore, 23 ; receives commis- 
sion from King George, 24-5 ; 
consults with Dinwiddie as to 
defence plans, 24-6 ; difficulty 
with the Independent Companies, 
27 ; endeavours to induce Wash- 
ington not to resign his commis- 
sion, 27 ; inspects frontier military 
posts, 27, 35 ; plans and prepara- 
tions by, for attack on Fort 



Duquesne, 25-6, 28 ; instructions 
from London as to measures for 
defence, 28-32 ; proposes taxa- 
tion for a defence fund, 31, 137 ; 
conciliation of Lidians by, 32-3, 
126 et seq. ; on attitude of the 
Indians, 33 ; preparations for 
Braddock's arrival, 35-6 ; letter 
to Braddock on the situation in 
America, 37-8 ; provisioning the 
troops, 38 ; visits Braddock at 
Alexandria, 39 ; loyalty to his 
chief on question of taxation, 42, 
43, 163, 167; proposes lengthen- 
ing session of the Assembly, 43 ; 
difficulties and anxieties of his 
office, 43, 98, 200; attitude to 
tlie virulent' burgesses, 44 ; joins 
Braddock at Fort Frederick, 45 ; 
endeavours to dissuade Braddock 
from recruiting intended servants, 
45-6 ; receives warning from 
Bradstreet, 49 ; apprehensions as 
to Braddock's force, 52 ; en- 
deavours to draft militia for de- 
fence of the frontier, 53 ; receives 
news of Braddock's defeat and sets 
off for Fort Cumberland, 57-60 ; 
remonstrates with Col. Dunbar, 
60 ; account of Braddock's defeat 
by, 61-2; control of affairs left to, 

62 ; raises volunteer force, 62 ; 
measures for defence of province, 

63 ; invited to Shirley's council of 
war, New York, 71, 75-6, 77, 94 ; 
and the Indian ravages, 71-3, 76, 
97-8, 103, 264; sends militia to 
Fort Cumberland, 73 ; view as to 
troops necessary in consequence of 
Braddock's defeat, 76 ; on the 
colonies and the question of de- 
fence, 76, 99 ; desires command 
of a regiment, 77, 96-7 ; and the 
Acadians, 89-92 2xissim ; opposed 
to plan of raising regiments under 
foreign officers, 96-7 ; builds chain 
of forts on frontiers, 99 ; recom- 
mendation of Washington, 99 ; 
endeavours to restrain hostility to 
Roman Catholics, 111-12; death 



INDEX 



309 



of his In'otlier Jului, 112-13; dis- 
tress as to provisioniug of troops 
at Fort Cumberland, 1 3G ; re- 
fuses request for supply of seamen, 
137 ; voluminous correspondence, 
140 ; the Assembly and his sec- 
retary, 140 ; remonstrance to 
Loudoun as to quartering of 
troops, 140-1 ; on Loudoun's re- 
call, 145, 155 ; sets off with 
militia to garrison Fort Cumber- 
land, 146, 158 ; question of his 
X'ank, 146 ; on Abercrombie's de- 
feat at Ticonderoga, 155 tt seq. ; en- 
courages troops at Fort Frederick, 
157 ; on the delay in the southern 
campaign, 157 ; buys blankets for 
Forbes, 158 ; on Foi'bes's progress 
to Fort Duquesne, 1 GO ; angered 
by Denny's submission to Assembly 
of Penn. , 167; on the siege of 
Niagara, 1 70 ; work after capture 
of Quebec, 176; Whitehall, 188 
et seq., 278, 279 ; various presents 
to Lord Baltimore, 189 ; defence 
of Ridout, 193 ; friendship for 
Ridout, 4, 190-4, 261, 279; Miss 
Ogle, 194 ; criticism of Calvert's 
proposals regarding the Assembly, 
199-200 ; and the boundary ques- 
tion, 203-4 ; receives presents 
from Lord Baltimore, 205, 235 ; 
and the Stamp Act, 208 et seq. ; 
sells Baltimore's manors, 228 ; 
efforts to ameliorate condition of 
convict ships, 230; the Episcopate 
in Maryland, 232 ; Bennett Allen, 
234 et seq. ; solicits a living for 
Boucher, 239 ; dismissed from 
office, 242-5 ; returns to England, 
250 ; interest in conflict of 
American Revolution, 255 et seq. ; 
leaves his estate in Ridout's man- 
agement, 251,262, 264, 268 ; pros- 
pect of return as governor, 260-1, 
263, 266 ; sells Ridout's tobacco, 
261, 262, 265 ; fever and ague, 
263 ; on Browning v. Hertford 
claims, 263-4 ; the present of 
hambs to Hamerslcy, 264, 265 ; 



Sam Ridout's school fccrs, 265 ; 
instructs Ridout as to disposal of 
young slaves, 267 ; meets Samuel 
Chase in London, 278 ; death, 
279 ; will, 279 ; length of his 
rule, 11 ; his house and enter- 
tainments, 11, 188-90, 245; 
friendship for Dr. Upton Scott, 
3 ; portrait by Hesselius, 245 ; 
mementoes of, 2S0-1. 

Appreciations of, 35, 245 ; 
by King George iii., 197 ; and 
Ceorge ii., 198 ; Eddis's estimate 
of, 248-9. 

Characteristics, 2, 12-13, 28, 
111, 158, 188-9, 190, 244-5, 
246, 248-9, 267; love of flowers, 
3 ; and garden, 189, 244, 265, 
278 ; as soldier, 13, 28 ; reputa- 
tion for wise council in military 
operations, 73, 74 ; attachment to 
his family, 114 ; loyal cliurcliman, 
179. 

Otherwise mentioned, 34, 50, 
67 et passim. 

Sharpe, Gregory (brother), 2, 4, 114, 
191. 

John (brother), a guardian t)f 

the 6t]i Lord Baltimore, 112, 114. 

Joshua (brother), 114. 

Philip (brother), 114, 214. 

William (brother), 1 3, 1 1 2, 1 1 4. 

Shawanese, the, 62, 94, 124, 127, 
159, 202. 

Shirlej', William, Lieut. -Gov. of 
Massiichusetts, 39, 40, 64-5, 85 ; 
project for capture of Louisbourg, 
64-5 ; attitude to Acadians, 85 ; 
commander-in-chief, 65-6 ; loss of 
his sons, 58, 66, 77 ; sends to 
Sharpe an account of his forces, 
66 ; conflrms appointment of 
Washington, 72 ; decision to raise 
two more regiments, 76-7 ; 
strengthens Oswego and defences 
of Lake Ontario, 77 ; council of 
war at New York, 71, 75, 76, 
77 ; abandons attempt on Fron- 
tenac, 73 ; on strength of British 
and French on Lake Ontiirio, 78 ; 



310 A COLONIAL GOVERNOR IN MARYLAND 



plan of campaign, 79-82 ; enlists 
boatmen, 102 ; recall, 91, 94, 
101, 104 ; reasons for his failure, 
101 ; dismissed from all militaiy 
affairs, 103 ; his plans altered, 
103, 110; blamed for loss of 
Oswego, 109, 110; return to 
England, 104 ; Gov. of Bahamas, 
91, 104 ; Benjamin Franklin 
quoted on, 104 ; mentioned, 29, 
45, 51, 53, 67, 71, 95. 

Shirley, AVilliam (son), 39, 40, 50, 
58, 66. 

Capt. John (son), 77. 

8ix Nations, the, 37 n., 38 n., 78 ; 
jNIaryland's present to, 17, 32 ; 
Col. Johnson's influence with, 45, 
101. See also Five Nations. 

Smith, Goldwin, The United King- 
dom, quoted, 242 n. 

Spry, Capt., 55, 73, 74. 

Stamp Act, 9, 31, 207 ; indignation 
in the Colonies, 208 et seq. ; the 
Colonies' non-importation agree- 
ment, 208 ; active resistance to 
in Mass., 208 ; Dulany's pamphlet 
on, 209 ; lawyers against the Act, 
210 ; effect of, in stopping business, 
214-15, 219 ; discussion of, in 
Parliament, 215 et seq. ; repeal of, 
223-7. 

Stanwix, Brig. -General, 117, 136, 
139, 141, 164-7, 170, 176. 

Steuben, Baron, 273. 

Stewart, Anthony, 253. 

Capt., 72. 

Dr., 247. 

Stirling, Capt., 213. 

Stobo, Robert, 22 and n. 

Stoddarts Fort, 97. 

Stone, William, 287, 289, 290. 

Strangways, Thomas of Melbury, 
10 n. 

Susquehannoughs, 285. 

Tasker, Hex. BENJA5ii>f, 1 n., 6-8 
passim, 18 and n., 60, 142, 193, 
203, 227, 243, 293, 294. 

Tasker, Anne (wife), 8, 294. 

Benjamin (sun), 8, 239, 243. 



Tasker, Rebecca (daughter), 9. 

Thomas (father), 7. 

Thackeraj', 240 ; The Virginians, 

quoted, 23, 275. 
Ticonderoga, or Carillon, 36, 106 ; 

AVjercrombie's defeat at, 150-3 ; 

captured by Amherst, 166-8. 
Toleration Act, 287. 
Townshend, Colonel, 168, 172, 173, 

180. 

Charles, 217, 229. 

Trade, Lords of, 17, 18. 
Treaty of — 

Aix-la-Chapclle, 14, 65 »., 85. 

Ryswick, 84. 

Utrecht, 84. 
Trent, Captain, 17, 19. 
Trenton, capture of, 271. 
Tuscuroras, the, 38 n. 
Tyler, Literary History of the Revolu- 
tion, quoted, 220. 

Van Braam, Jacob, 22 and n. 

Venango Fort, 36, 160. 

Virginia, 15, 62, 63, 95, 103, 125. 
253, 256 ; views as to provincial 
troops in, 23 ; Assembly's con- 
tribution fur defence, 16, 17 ; 
Assembly's refusal to grant sup- 
plies, 31 ; confidence restored in, 
176 ; hostility to Maryland, 286 ; 
attitude during Great Civil War, 
286 ; submits to Crumwell, 289. 

Wahachy of Keevvay (Cherokee 
chief), 124, 126, 128-9, 132. 

Wallace, Hugh, 254. 

Walpole, Horace, quuted, 182, 183, 
197, 274. 

Wampum in dealings with Indians, 
33, 130. 

Warren, Admiral Sir Peter, 45, 65. 

Washington, Augustine, 13. 

George, 14, 15 ; affair with 

de Junion villa, 19 ; capitulates at 
Fort Necessity, 20-2, 28 ; resigns 
his commission, 27 ; aide-de-camp 
to Braddock, 39 ; meets Franklin, 
45 ; escapes from the Monon- 
gahela, 58, 61 ; dispute with 



INDEX 



311 



Dag worthy at Fort Cumljerland, 
72 ; Sharpe's recommendation of, 
99; Ohio expedition, 100; punc- 
tiliousness in small matters, 146- 
7 ; his Diary, quoted, 247-8 ; 
assumes command of the Amei'icans, 
270 ; operations during tlie war, 
270-4 ; resigns his commission, 
276, 281 ; mentioned, 22, 24, 
143, 147, 157, 241, 245. 

Webb, Major-General, 103, 
110, 117, 120, 144. 

WeeJdy Gazette, the, 41 n. 

Wentworth, Governor, 70. 

White, Father, 284, 286. 

Whitfield, 64, 177. 

Whitehall, Sharpe's country 
188-90, 278, 279; the 
woodcarver at, 190. 



108, 



seat, 
young 



Wilkes, 259. 

William Henry, Fort, 71, 73, 120-1, 

150, 163. 
Williams, Thomas Charles, 253 

et seq. 
Willing, Thomas, 254. 
Willis, John, 40 n. 
Wills Creek (Fort Cumberland), 27, 

34, 55, 80. 
Winslow, Colonel John, 55, 86-92 

passim, 100, 108. 
Wolfe, James, 3, 22 n., 149, 153, 

154, 166, 168, 170-1, 172, 174, 

180, 181 11. ; death, 175. 
Wolstenholme, Daniel, 2, 124, 130-5, 

261. 

Yauohtanew (Cherokee), 129, 135. 
Yorktown, surrender of, 274. 



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